The Salvamento Maritimo ship Guardamar Talia arrived at Arguineguin on August 28, 2021 in Arguineguin, Mogan, Gran Canaria, Spain, with dozens of immigrants. (Photo by Europa Press via Getty Images)
- When set sail, the ship was carrying about 60 people.
- A Spanish NGO stated that two ships were missing-one carrying 42 people and the other 59 people.
- In 2020, Just over 23,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, which is the highest number since 2006. It is eight times that of 2019.
Spanish officials said on Tuesday that about 30 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are believed to have disappeared at sea while trying to cross to the Canary Islands, and more than 30 others were rescued by the coast guard.
Rescuers from Salvamento Maritimo said they found 32 migrants and the body of one person in a small boat near Fuerteventura in the early hours of the morning.
A source in the Spanish government delegation told AFP that the survivors said that the ship was carrying about 60 people when it set sail.
The Spanish non-governmental organization Caminando Fronteras stated that two ships were missing-one carrying 42 people and the other 59 people-people have questions about which one to find Feeling a little confused.
Spokesperson Siham Coric told AFP that there was contradictory information, and some survivors said that “12 or 14 people” were missing.
“Both boats are inflatable. They set off from the same area on the same day, so we don’t know which boat we found,” Korriche said, adding that they set off from Tan-Tan in southern Morocco, an NGO Attempting to contact family members.
Last week, another small boat carrying nearly 40 people trying to make a similar crossing lost 11 people. The Spanish Coast Guard took 28 people to safety.
A few hours later, the bodies of three women were found in the same area near Lanzarote.
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On August 19, the Coast Guard rescued a woman clutching an overturned boat. She told rescuers that about 50 migrants were on board when the boat left.
Since the strengthening of inspections on Mediterranean routes at the end of 2019, the number of people trying to reach the Atlantic Islands by boat has increased dramatically.
Statistics from the Ministry of the Interior show that more than 23,000 immigrants arrived in the Canary Islands last year. This is the highest number since 2006 and eight times the number in 2019.
The flow has not stopped. Data as of August 15 show that 8,222 migrants have arrived in the Canary Islands since the beginning of this year, more than double the number in the same period in 2020.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration, between January 1 and August 20, at least 428 migrants died or disappeared on their way to the Canary Islands, 102 more than the same period last year.
But according to data compiled by Caminando Fronteras, it is speculated that the number of missing persons who died at sea was much higher, reaching 1,922 in the first six months of this year.
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