Over the weekend, more than 1,400 people from Africa arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands. One boat alone carried a record-breaking 321 people, according to authorities.
Between Friday night and Sunday morning, 1,457 migrants arrived on the Spanish islands near West Africa. This is causing concern because it’s a sudden increase in arrivals. The people who arrived are all from countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
On Saturday, a boat carrying 321 people reached the island of El Hierro. This broke the previous record of 280 people on a single boat, which happened on October 3. Spanish TV showed pictures of a colorful boat full of happy passengers arriving at the port.
From January 1 to October 15, 23,537 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands according to Spain’s interior ministry. In just the first two weeks of this month, there were 8,561 arrivals. This is the highest number in two weeks since a previous migration issue in 2006.
The increase in migrants coming to the Canary Islands is due to political unrest in the Sahel, according to Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. More people are choosing this route because it’s become harder to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
However, some boats are not safe and many migrants take a dangerous journey from Morocco or Western Sahara, which is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.
Some try even riskier routes from places like Mauritania, Senegal, and even Gambia, which are about 1,000 kilometers away.
SOURCE:FRANCE24