According to the International Organization for Migration, so far this year, at least 525 people have been killed while trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean between the African continent and Spain’s Canary Islands. This is one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. EURACTIV partner EFE report.
The UN office said in June that 136 people died while trying to make a dangerous journey, which means that the number of deaths in 2021 has more than tripled in two months.
A source from the International Organization for Migration told EFE on Tuesday (August 31) that the statistics are based on the number of deaths reported and confirmed by survivors, because it is difficult to collect verifiable data on a route destroyed by a so-called invisible shipwreck, so the ship Disappeared without a trace or survivor.
NGOs like Spain Walking boundary In estimates that include unrecovered sunken ships, the death toll is much higher, at 1,922. However, according to the testimony of survivors, none of these figures include the most recent operation on Tuesday, in which 14 sub-Saharan immigrants died.
The United Nations has previously warned that 2021 will be particularly tragic for Canarian immigration routes, and that this number has doubled compared with the same period in the previous two years.
Caminando Fronteras spokesperson Helena Maleno warned that there will be ships missing every week in July and August, which is “very bad”. She pointed out multiple factors that increase the risk of the journey.
The ship launched from Dakhla, Western Sahara, was probably missing during the 500-kilometer voyage to the Canary Islands. The second factor is the poor seaworthiness of ships used for navigation.
[Edited by Daniel Eck]
