A Spanish migrant rights group reported on Tuesday that a minimum of 6,618 migrants disappeared or perished while attempting to reach Spain via the sea in 2023, averaging 18 individuals per day.
The recorded figure is almost three times higher than the previous year’s count of 2,390 and marks the highest toll since the establishment of Caminando Fronteras, also known as Walking Borders, in 2007, revealed the organisation’s coordinator, Helena Maleno, during a press conference.
According to the NGO, the total count comprises 384 children, compiled from migrant families’ reports of the deceased or missing and official rescue statistics.
The majority of these tragic incidents, amounting to 6,007, occurred along the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
With increased restrictions in the Mediterranean, these seven islands have emerged as a preferred destination for individuals escaping poverty and conflict in Africa. Most embark on perilous journeys aboard overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels lacking adequate provisions like food and water.
Maleno described the Atlantic route as “the deadliest route in the world.”
She attributed last year’s surge in migrant deaths and disappearances to insufficient resources for rescuers and a significant rise in attempted crossings to Spain.
According to interior ministry figures, the number of migrants arriving in Spain illegally nearly doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 56,852, marking the highest influx since 2018, when 64,298 migrants entered the country.
Around 70 percent of these arrivals took place in the Canary Islands, situated just around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the northwest coast of Africa at their closest point.
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