At least 6,618 migrants died or went missing trying to reach Spain by sea in 2023, when record numbers headed to the Canary Islands, migrant rights groups announced yesterday.
The “shameful” figure is almost triple the 2,390 recorded the previous year and is the highest since the charity Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) started keeping tabs in 2007, said co-ordinator Helena. Mareno said at a press conference. .
The group, which compiles figures from families of dead or missing migrants and official rescue statistics, said the number included 384 children.
Mareno argued that last year’s increase in migrant deaths and disappearances was due to a lack of resources for rescuers.
Nearly half were migrants who left Senegal for Spain. Thousands of people have fled Senegal due to political instability, lack of jobs, rising food prices and depleted fish stocks.
The majority of deaths (6,007 people) occurred on the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Seven islands have become favorite destinations for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa amid tightening controls in the Mediterranean, but most lack sufficient food and water to navigate, and are overcrowded and difficult to navigate. I’m on a boat that can barely withstand.
“The Atlantic route has become the deadliest route in the world,” Mareno said.
According to Interior Ministry statistics, the number of migrants entering Spain illegally in 2023 will almost double from the previous year to 56,852.
This is the highest number since 2018, when 64,298 immigrants entered the country.
The majority (about 70%) arrived in the Canary Islands, which are only 100 kilometers (100 kilometers) from the northwest coast of Africa.
Boats (often long wooden fishing boats) depart from Morocco and further south from Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal. A direct flight from Senegal to the Canary Islands typically takes him a week, with 1,600 kilometers of difficult upwind sailing.
To avoid crackdowns, smugglers take longer and more dangerous journeys, sailing west into the vast Atlantic Ocean before turning north to the Canary Islands.