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A Spanish Coast Guard boat with refugees in the Canary Islands (in July 2023): 2006 record exceeded

Photo: IMAGO/Europa Press/ABACA / IMAGO/ABACAPRESS

The number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands has exceeded a record high. By Saturday, 31,686 people had reached the Spanish islands, more than in the whole of 2006, the previous record year. At that time, 31,678 refugees arrived from January to December, as reported by the Spanish news agency EFE. The regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said the figures defined the "humanitarian emergency" facing the Canary Islands. The management of migration at the southern border should be a priority in the Spanish and European agenda," Clavijo wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Over the weekend alone, four boats with more than 490 passengers landed on El Hierro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands, according to the report. Four people died, two of them on board, two more in a hospital. The number could increase further because the authorities are still in action, according to EFE.

The sharp increase in the numbers had already become apparent in recent months. Between January 1 and October 15, a total of 23,537 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, 80 percent more than in the same period last year.

Migrants often miss the islands

One of the main reasons for the increase is the political and economic instability in Senegal. Among the arrivals are many fishermen, the important economic sector is in crisis. In addition, the government has put the opposition leader, who had given young people hope for a better future, in prison. The EU border protection agency Frontex calls the conditions in the country a "push factor" that makes people get on the boats and leave the country.

The route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. The migrants travel hundreds of kilometres, often missing the islands – and dying at sea. Spain has greatly expanded its reception capacities in the Canary Islands in recent years. Nevertheless, the government is concerned about the rising numbers. Without the help of the EU, the situation could not be managed, it was said in Madrid in October. Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the country would deploy two additional planes to monitor migration routes.

Sep