In total, 1,427 migrants reached the islands in various precarious boats between Friday night and Saturday morning. Migrant arrivals have been increasing in recent weeks, and they predominantly come from sub-Saharan Africa, according to emergency services.
On Saturday, a wooden canoe arrived at El Hierro Island with 321 people on board, surpassing the previous record of 280 passengers on a single boat arriving in the Canaries on October 3.
Public TV channel TVE captured images of the colorful boat’s arrival at the port on Saturday, with migrants onboard smiling and waving.
As per the latest figures from the Spanish Interior Ministry, the Canaries received 23,537 migrants between January 1 and October 15, marking an almost 80% increase compared to the same period the previous year. During the first two weeks of October, 8,561 migrants arrived, a record figure since a previous migration crisis in 2006.
The surge in arrivals is attributed to “the destabilization in the Sahel,” as stated by the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, during a visit to the Canaries this week.
The migration route through the Canaries has become increasingly active due to stricter controls in the Mediterranean Sea. However, shipwrecks are frequent during these perilous crossings aboard small boats originating from Morocco or Western Sahara, which are approximately a hundred kilometers away. Further south, migrants come from Mauritania, Senegal, and even Gambia, situated about a thousand kilometers away.
Source: Africanews