The number of migrants reaching Spain’s Canary Islands on precarious vessels from West Africa has hit an all-time annual record with 41,425 arrivals between 1 January and 30 November 2024, data from the Interior Ministry showed on Monday.
A total of 56,976 migrants have arrived in Spain since the end of November, statistics show, which is 12.7% more than in 2023, a year in which all records had already been broken. Of these, 41,425 reached the Canary Islands, with 7,338 doing so in the month of November alone.
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 still 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 latest data until October from the European Union’s border agency Frontex.
Seeking to revert the trend, Spain has asked Frontex to resume an air and maritime surveillance operation that had ended in 2018 in Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia.
In 2023, a total of 39,910 migrants arrived, surpassing the previous record in 2006.
The Atlantic route is especially 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.
Canarias recibe 41.425 inmigrantes irregulares desde enero y 7.338 solo en noviembre https://t.co/XhKesP2eY6 pic.twitter.com/dQIfVfw5ys
— El Aragüeño (@ElAragueno) December 2, 2024
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