More than 300 migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands in flimsy boats were picked up by Spain’s maritime rescue agency on Wednesday, with nine of them clinging to a semi-sunken dinghy.
According to a rights group, the rescue agency is unaware of any drownings.
According to Helena Maleno, head of the Walking Borders migration monitoring group, 18 individuals have perished attempting the treacherous trip from Africa to Lanzarote. Reuters was unable to independently verify that statistic.
According to the rescue service’s Twitter account, 319 migrants were rescued from six boats, one of which was carrying up to 120 people, and transported to Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.
In 2021, a total of 22,316 migrants entered the Canaries illegally, down from 23,271 the previous year. According to data from the Interior Ministry, last year was one of the busiest in the last decade for such crossings.
More than 4,400 migrants, including at least 205 children, were lost at sea attempting to reach Spain in 2021, according to Walking Borders, more than double the number lost in 2020 and the most since the organisation began tracking in 2018
