MADRID: Spanish Authorities on Sunday said that more than 1,400 African migrants have reached Spain’s Canary Islands this weekend.
The authorities in a post on X, formerly Twitter said a total of 1,457 migrants had arrived the Spanish islands between Friday night and Sunday morning.
According to an emergency services spokesman all of the migrants hailed from sub-Saharan Africa.
A rescue services spokesperson told media that on Saturday 321 people reached the island of El Hierro through a one vessel, crossing the previous record for a single boat of 280 on October 3.
Latest data from Spain’s interior ministry show 23,537 migrants arrived the Spanish Canaries between January 1 and October 15. Even this month alone 8,561 migrants arrive.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska last week said political destabilization in the Sahel region was the reason for spike in numbers of migrants.
The Spanish Canaries route has been preferred in recent years with controls having been tightened in the Mediterranean.
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Thousands of migrants risk their lives to cross from Morocco or Western Sahara to reach Spanish islands for better opportunities. Other migrants take other routes from Mauritania, Senegal and even Gambia, around 1,000 kilometres away from the Spanish territories.
During the first half of 2023, Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, which aids migrant boats in distress, reported that 778 people lost their lives while attempting to reach the Canary Islands. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) released lower figures, with 126 reported dead or missing over the same period.
