Record number of migrants reaching Spain’s Canary Islands
The number of migrants reaching Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa hit an all-time annual record with 41,425 arrivals between January 1st and November 30th of this year, interior ministry data showed on December 3rd according to The Arab Weekly and agencies.
With one month of 2024 still pending, this is the second year in a row that the archipelago has seen a record number of migrants arrive.
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The top three nationalities of migrants reaching the Canaries were Mali, Senegal and Morocco according to latest data until October from EU border agency Frontex.
Spain has asked Frontex to resume an air and maritime surveillance operation that had ended in 2018 in Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia in order to curb migration numbers.
39,910 migrants arrived last year, surpassing the previous record in 2006.
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Frontex data showed that 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 declined overall.
The Arab Weekly
