More than 500 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands in 24 hours | Abroad

The archipelago has been experiencing an increasing number of refugee arrivals for a number of days. Just today/Friday, European leaders will hold an informal summit in Granada, Spain. The migration theme is at the top of the agenda of that summit, partly after thousands of migrants recently arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

On the island of El Hierro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands, 275 people arrived in three boats. Two boats arrived in Tenerife, one in Gran Canaria. According to a spokesperson for the maritime rescue service, the occupants of the boats mainly come from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authorities on the spot captured them. This would involve 484 men, 8 women and 26 children.

On Tuesday, 280 migrants arrived at El Hierro, the largest number ever to cross in one boat. In one week, 1,200 migrants have arrived on this island, which has 11,000 inhabitants. During the night from Thursday to Friday, 500 of them were transferred to Tenerife, because the authorities on El Hierro were overwhelmed.

For Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, the situation is “untenable”. He accuses the left-wing government in Madrid of negligence.

Due to the stricter controls in the Mediterranean Sea, the route to the Canary Islands is growing in popularity. In addition, shipwrecks regularly occur due to the danger on that route.

Between January 1 and September 30, just under 15,000 people arrived on the archipelago, a fifth more than in the same period last year. NGOs regularly report fatal shipwrecks in Moroccan, Spanish or international waters. 951 migrants have died trying to reach Spain by sea in the first six months of this year, Spanish aid agency Caminando Fronteras says. Most of them, 778, were en route from West Africa to the Canary Islands.