A record number of migrants, refugees arrived in the Canary Islands by sea in 2024 | Immigration News

Spain received 63,970 migrants and irregular arrivals last year, including 46,843 people from the Canary Islands.

At least 46,843 people will arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands in 2024 through the deadly Atlantic migration route, the country’s Interior Ministry said.

The European country received 63,970 migrants who arrived irregularly last year, most of them from the Atlantic islands, from 56,852 in 2023, the Ministry said on Thursday.

EU border agency Frontex noted that irregular crossings into the bloc from January to November 2024 fell by 40 percent overall but increased by 19 percent on the Atlantic route, with people from Mali, Senegal and Morocco trying to cross.

Years of unrest in the Sahel region, unemployment, and the effect of climate change on farming communities are some of the reasons why people try to cross.

The Atlantic route, which includes destinations from Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco, is also the deadliest in the world.

Last week, at least 69 people, including 25 Malians, died after a ferry sailing from West Africa to the Canary Islands capsized off Morocco.

A report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras last month, said that at least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea from January 1 to December 5, 2024.

Caminando Fronteras added that it has increased by 50 percent since 2023 and is the highest number since its statistics began in 2007, and attributed it to the use of ramshackle boats, dangerous waters and a lack of rescue services.

Migrant aid group Walking Borders also blamed a lack of measures or groundless rescues and criminalization of migrants for the increase in deaths at sea. The aid group accused European governments of “prioritizing immigration control over the right to life”.