More than 1,600 migrants reach Canary Islands at weekend
One person died as more than 1,600 people made the hazardous sea journey from northern Africa to the Canary Islands in small boats at the weekend.
The Spanish archipelago is often on the route taken by migrants from Africa as they try to reach the EU.
Emergency services said the arrival numbers over the two days were the highest reported in a decade.
A body was pulled from the water off El Hierro, the southernmost of the Canary Islands. A second person was flown to hospital suffering from an unspecified health condition.
More than 1,000 people arrived on the islands of Gran
Canaria, Tenerife and El Hierro on Saturday after making the journey in 20 barely seaworthy boats, a spokeswoman for the local rescue services said.
More than 600 people arrived on Sunday.
Situated about 100 kilometres off the coast of North Africa, the Canaries have drawn an increased number of migrants this year after the EU, Libya, Morocco and Turkey reached border control agreements.
Migration analysts said the Atlantic route from Africa to Europe was used more often now because of conflicts in West Africa and border closures enforced by coronavirus controls.
More than 11,000 migrants have made their way to the Canary Islands since January, the International Organisation for Migration said. That figure is more than seven times the number reported in the same period last year. Last month alone, 4,925 people arrived.
At least 414 people have died trying to reach the Canaries this year, the organisation said, almost double the 210 deaths recorded in 2019.
During a visit to the Spanish archipelago, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said migrants should be returned to their home countries unless they had refugee status.
At least 140 migrants died on Saturday after a boat caught fire and then capsized off the north-west coast of Senegal.