Migrants trying to reach Europe pushed to deadly Atlantic
FUERTEVENTURA: Migrants are increasingly crossing a treacherous part of the Atlantic Ocean to reach the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago near West Africa, in what has become one of the most dangerous routes to European territory.
About 4,000 people have survived the perilous journey this year. More than 250 others have died or gone missing, according to the International Organisation for Migration. That’s already more than the number of people who perished trying to cross the Western Mediterranean in all of last year.
In the week that The Associated Press spent in the Canary Islands to report this story, at least 20 bodies were recovered.
The increase in traffic to the Canaries comes after the European Union funded Morocco in 2019 to stop migrants from reaching southern Spain via the Mediterranean Sea. While arrivals to mainland Spain decreased by 50% compared to the same period last year, landings in the Canary Islands have increased by 550%.
In August alone there were more than 850 arrivals by sea to the Canaries, according to a tally of numbers released by Spain’s Interior Ministry and reports by local media and NGOs.
On August 19, 15 lifeless Malians were spotted inside a wooden boat by a Spanish plane 148km from the island of Gran Canaria and towed back to port.
Less than 24 hours later, another migrant boat was rescued with 12 people and four dead.
The survivors had witnessed their comrades die along the way.
“They almost didn’t speak,” said José Antonio Rodríguez, who heads the regional Red Cross immediate response teams. “They were in a state of shock.”