Africa-Press – Cape verde. Two hundred and eighty migrants arrived today on board a boat in the Canary Islands, traveling one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world, emergency services at sea told the AFP news agency.
Around 300 migrants arrived in a single boat to the Canary Islands
According to the source, 278 migrants who were on board the vessel were men and among the passengers were 10 minors. This is the largest number of migrants to arrive in the Canaries on a single boat.
Migrants of sub-Saharan origin, according to emergency services, were assisted upon arrival at the port of La Restinga, on the island of El Hierro.
On Tuesday alone, the island of El Hierro recorded half a thousand arrivals, a rare number for this small island, the westernmost of the Canary Islands.
Spain, and particularly the Canary Islands archipelago, which is located off the African coast, is one of the main points of entry for illegal migrants into Europe.
The Canaries registered the arrival of 14,976 migrants between January 1st and September 30th, an increase of 19.8% compared to the same period in 2022, according to the most recent figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.
In recent years, the migration route to the Canaries has been particularly busy due to the tightening of controls in the Mediterranean Sea.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) regularly report deadly shipwrecks – the unofficial number of which, according to them, amounts to dozens, if not hundreds of deaths – in Moroccan, Spanish or international waters.
Since the beginning of 2023, 140 migrants have died or disappeared during this crossing of the Atlantic, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released at the beginning of September.
The Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, which analyzes emergency calls from boats with illegal migrants at sea or their families, reported that 778 migrants died or disappeared on this migratory route in the first half of the year.
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