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.
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.
The number of people attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from Africa continues to rise, but at a huge cost. One in five deaths or disappearances of migrants recorded by the UN last year happened on the Atlantic Ocean route.
Around 25 people are believed to have died during an attempt to reach the Canary Islands by boat. Survivors said the bodies of the dead were thrown overboard.
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.
Thousands of migrants from West Africa are taking the risky journey to Europe via the Spanish Canary Islands. As a result, aid organizations have said that 2021 saw more fatalities in the Atlantic than ever before.
The Moroccan navy provided assistance to 120 migrants over the weekend. The migrants were picked up from several different boats by the coast guard operating in both the Mediterranean and Atlantic waters.
At least 220 migrants have been rescued from small boats south of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean. Local authorities say the rate of crossings from Africa is rising.
Forty-one people were rescued alive and one body was recovered from a shipwreck off the Canary Islands on Wednesday. Survivors reported that 16 others remain missing.
The Moroccan Navy picked up 63 migrants from their rubber dinghy off the coast of Morocco on February 1. Meanwhile, Spanish rescuers reported more rescues nearer the Canary Islands.
When Spanish rescuers arrived to help a boat off the coast of the Canary Island Fuerteventura, they found a mother who had given birth to her baby in the rubber dinghy, alongside around 60 other migrants.