A report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) reveals that a total of 6,618 migrants, an average of 18 per day, die trying to reach Spain’s shores, a figure that will rise in 2022. This is almost triple the 2,390 deaths recorded in 2019. Tuesday.
Data from the Right to Life Monitor report released on Tuesday in Madrid says 2023 will be the “deadliest” year since humanitarian organizations began collecting reliable data in 2007. became.
According to the report, of those who died on access routes to Spain in 2023, 363 were women and 384 were children.
The majority of those killed (6,007) died on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands. In contrast, 434 migrants died on the Algeria route in the western Mediterranean, 147 migrants died on the Strait of Gibraltar, and 30 on the Alboran route.
The report said most of the migrants were trying to reach Spain’s shores in fragile boats (called “pateras” or “cayucos” in Spanish), and many were victims of human trafficking mafia.
According to data from Spain’s Interior Ministry, 56,852 people attempted to enter Spain irregularly by sea or land in 2023, an 82.1% increase from the previous year.
Of these, 39,910 were counted off the coast of the Canary Islands, an increase of 154.5% compared to 2022.
Caminando Fronteras, which regularly releases the number of people killed on the dangerous passage to Spain, based on warnings from the sea and information from migrants’ families and communities, last year A total of 84 dangerous boats were reported to have gone missing.
The highest number of deaths was recorded in October (2,370), followed by June (1,197) and November (1,023).
The dead included migrants from 17 countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Conakry, Comoros, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Mauritania, Senegal, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen. There is.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
