The Canary Islands, located roughly 100 kilometers off the coast of Africa, have seen a large influx of migrants arriving by boat in recent years. On this week’s show, we hear from people who’ve made the harrowing journey, and those who are trying to help them start a new life.
One of the three Nigerian men who stowed away on an oil tanker’s rudder from Nigeria to the Canary Islands talks to the Spanish press about his journey and reasons for fleeing.
The boat set off from the Western Sahara some nine days ago, carrying 34 migrants attempting to flee to the Spanish islands. Thousands of migrants attempt the trip each year, in search of a better life.
Spanish authorities said they found three dead migrants and 45 survivors in a boat which ran into trouble off the Canary Island of Fuerteventura on Monday.
The Moroccan authorities say they retrieved the bodies of eight migrants after they drowned in an attempt to reach the Canary Islands.
The Spanish coast guard said they found two people dead -- one of whom was a four-year-old girl -- in a "barely seaworthy vessel" just off Lanzarote, one of the Spanish Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, on Friday.
Having been pushed back by the Spanish authorities to Morocco, Serge decided to try the 'Atlantic route' to Europe. But once at sea, the boat lost its motor, and Serge thought he was going to die.
Over the last two days, Spanish marine rescue services reported that they rescued 72 migrants from two separate boats. At least 28 are thought to still be missing from another boat found about 120 kilometers south of Gran Canaria.
UNHCR reports that over 3,000 people either died or went missing while trying to reach Europe via sea in 2021. The UN agency has asked for urgent measures to ward off an increase in people losing their lives on these journeys.
At the end of last week, Spain and Morocco initiated a new phase of bilateral relations between the two countries. More economic cooperation, new flight routes and a warmer political climate are planned. In return, Spain reportedly wants to fly back to Morocco migrants who do not qualify for asylum.
On Monday morning, Spanish rescue workers brought to shore 52 migrants on the island of Lanzarote. That’s in addition to the 237 migrants reported to have arrived on small boats on various Canary Islands over the weekend.
More than 4,000 African migrants died in 2021 while trying to reach the Canary Islands by boat, according to some sources. There have never been so many deaths as now, aid workers are saying.