[ad_1]
Of: TT
Published:
Photo: Javier Bauluz / AP / TT
More and more immigrants are trying to reach the Canary Islands. Here, a man is helped to disembark from a rescue ship in the port of Arguineguín on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. The photo was taken on January 16. Stock Photography.
NEWS
The Spanish Coast Guard claims that 107 migrants were rescued from boats off the Canary Islands over the weekend. So far this year, the number of migrants trying to reach the Spanish archipelago has more than doubled.
On Saturday, 56 migrants were picked up from two boats off the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. They are all men from countries south of the Sahara.
On Sunday, 51 other people were rescued from a boat found on the outskirts of Gran Canaria. Two of the migrants are women.
The shortest route from the African mainland to the Spanish islands is from Morocco, but the roughly 100-kilometer stretch is known for its strong water currents, and the boats are often overcrowded and in poor condition.
So far this year, the number of immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands has more than doubled compared to the same period last year. In January and February, the Canary Islands received 2,341 migrants, an increase of 112 percent compared to the same months last year, according to figures from the Spanish Interior Ministry.
Last year, just over 23,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, eight times more than the almost 2,700 who arrived in 2019.
The fact that more and more immigrants choose to try to reach the Canary Islands is due to a stricter surveillance of the southern Spanish coast, which has drastically reduced the number of immigrants crossing the Mediterranean.
Published:
