Refugees: More than 1,600 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands

Over the past weekend up to and including Monday, 1,622 migrants from West Africa reached the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, in small wooden boats. This emerges from reports from rescue center 112 of the Atlantic archipelago off the west coast of Africa on platform X. In October, the UN refugee agency UNHCR counted more than 10,000 arrivals. That was more than twice as many as in previous months. It is believed that the increase in arrivals is mainly related to the political and social crisis in Senegal. The Spanish archipelago is facing significant problems due to the large number of arrivals.

People are registered on the islands, receive initial emergency care and are then gradually transferred to mainland Spain. Island politicians criticize the central government for saying that this is happening too slowly and that the islands are receiving too little support in caring for the migrants. In the harbors of the islands there are more and more colorfully painted wooden boats up to 20 meters long, which are mainly used by coastal fishermen in West Africa.

According to the UNHCR, 23,537 migrants had reached the Canary Islands by October 15 this year. According to the UN organization, that was around 4,500 more than a week earlier. According to the Spanish aid organization Caminando Fronteras (Border Crossers), at least 951 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea in the first six months of the year. The majority of deaths (778) were therefore not recorded in the Mediterranean, but on the more dangerous route from West Africa across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands.