Spain rescues 262 migrants in Canary Islands as EU mulls migration

By REUTERS

OCTOBER 6, 2023 13:37

A group of 61 migrants on a wooden boat are rescued by crew members of the Geo Barents migrant rescue ship, operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), in international waters off the coast of Libya in the central Mediterranean Sea September 28, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI) — A group of 61 migrants on a wooden boat are rescued by crew members of the Geo Barents migrant rescue ship, operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), in international waters off the coast of Libya in the central Mediterranean Sea September 28, 2023.

(photo credit: REUTERS/DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI)

Migrant arrivals by sea to Spain have increased by a fifth so far this year compared to the same period in 2022.

Spanish coast guards rescued 262 migrants in three boats trying to reach the Canary Islands in the early hours on Friday amid a surge in crossings, just as European leaders were meeting in Spain to look for ways to avoid a new migration crisis.

Italy and Spain have voiced concern over an increase in irregular immigration this year to their islands in the Mediterranean or in the Atlantic. Madrid has said it cannot cope with irregular immigration without help from the European Union.

Emergency services said they had brought 103 of the 262 rescued migrants to El Hierro, the westernmost and tiniest of the Canary Islands, which has received more than 1,200 migrants in the last six days alone.

Migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa

The health service of El Hierro, which has just 11,000 residents, gets overwhelmed every time a boat arrives at the port, the head of the Canary Islands' regional government, Fernando Clavijo, said on Thursday.

The other rescued migrants were taken to Los Cristianos port in Tenerife and Arguineguin in Gran Canaria.

Rescue workers carry the body of a dead person after a boat with 46 migrants from the Maghreb region capsized in the beach of Orzola, in the Canary Island of Lanzarote, Spain June 18, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/BORJA SUAREZ)

The migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa, the emergency services said.

Migrant arrivals by sea to Spain have increased by a fifth so far this year compared to the same period in 2022, with more than 3,500 reaching the Canary Islands last month amid milder weather and calmer seas, official statistics showed.

The seven islands of the Atlantic archipelago have become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Spain. Others seek to cross the Mediterranean to the Spanish mainland.