Four people have been found dead in a makeshift boat carrying some 23 migrants near Spain's Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, local authorities said. Nineteen of them were hospitalized on Tenerife.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has unveiled a new policy “Africa Focus 2023”. He says that he wants to build closer economic and institutional ties with various African countries.
Tensions are rising on the Canary Islands where migrants feel trapped – they are officially in Europe but unable to get to the mainland. Many of them are leaving the camps, saying they are inadequate.
Fifty-two people were rescued from a boat south of the Canary Islands on Tuesday evening. Emergency services said that 10 of the migrants were suffering from hypothermia.
At least five people reportedly died en route to Spain's Canary Islands on a boat carrying 48 migrants. Police are investigating whether four people were thrown overboard during the voyage.
The Spanish coast guard rescued 107 migrants from boats off the Canary Islands over the weekend. Migrants also rallied calling on the government to transfer them to the mainland.
After reportedly smuggling over 230 migrants to Spain's Canary Islands "without any safety measures," 14 African nationals have been arrested on the Atlantic archipelago. Three migrants reportedly died during the crossings, which took place in January and February.
Four migrants were found dead on arrival when a boat carrying 47 migrants landed in Tenerife at dawn, Spanish coast guards said Tuesday. Three others were hospitalized with burns and other injuries.
Nearly 2,200 migrants died trying to reach Spain by sea this year, most on their way to the Canary Islands. The migrant rights group Caminando Fronteras said a reduction in rescue services was partly to blame.
18-year-old Babacar is one of more than 8,000 African migrants who made his way to the Canary Islands archipelago in November 2020. When InfoMigrants spoke to him, Babacar had just been taken in by a Canary Islands resident who decided to help him.
In recent months, thousands of migrants have been taken in by hotels on Spain's Canary Islands. This has caused tension in the islands' vital tourist industry, which was hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. It remains unclear if the migrants' presence will hurt the popularity of the holiday destination at all -- but xenophobia is on the rise.
On the Canary Islands, the new wave of migrant arrivals is becoming a real challenge for the archipelago's long-standing culture of hospitality. The islands have been hit hard by the economic crisis that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now facing the biggest migrant influx since 2006.