Number of migrants reaching Spain’s Canary Islands breaks record

03 December 2024 - 13:41 By Reuters
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Mamadou Bathily, a 24-year-old migrant from Mali, takes part in an activity organised by the NGO ProemAID's "Water Project" to overcome the traumatic experience of a dangerous sea crossing in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Spain on July 24 2024.
Mamadou Bathily, a 24-year-old migrant from Mali, takes part in an activity organised by the NGO ProemAID's "Water Project" to overcome the traumatic experience of a dangerous sea crossing in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Spain on July 24 2024.
Image: REUTERS/Borja Suarez

The number of migrants reaching Spain's Canary Islands on precarious vessels from West Africa hit an annual record with 41,425 arrivals between January 1 and November 30 this year, interior ministry data showed on Monday.

The seven islands off northwestern Africa's Atlantic coast are struggling to absorb the surge in irregular migrants arriving on crammed, open-topped boats seeking better opportunities in Europe.

With one month of 2024 pending, this is the second year in a row that the archipelago, a front line in Europe's struggle to curb migration, has seen a record number.

Mali, Senegal and Morocco were the top three nationalities of migrants reaching the Canaries, according to data until October from the EU's border agency Frontex.

Seeking to revert the trend, Spain has asked Frontex to resume an air and maritime surveillance operation that ended in 2018 in Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia.

Last year 39,910 migrants arrived, surpassing the previous record in 2006.

The Atlantic route is specially dangerous as the ocean's rough weather can easily capsize the fragile rafts, pirogues and dinghies used by most migrants.

Between January and October, the Canaries registered the fastest increase in arrivals by sea in the EU, even as illegal migrant arrivals in the bloc slumped overall, Frontex data showed.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.