1,488 migrants arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands in one day
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Al Jazeera, Senego, Seneweb, Bénin Web TV, TimesLIVE and Sowetan
About 1,488 migrants were rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday 14 November, according to Al Jazeera, the highest daily total since 2020. Other counts give figures of 757 or 1,580 people. The boats set off from Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea.
The previous record dated from 7 November 2020, when 1,461 people were rescued, mostly near Arguineguín on Gran Canaria, the sea rescue service said. On this route, no day had seen as many rescues since records began 32 years ago. Fourteen boats docked: twelve on El Hierro, one of the smallest islands in the archipelago, one on Gran Canaria and one on Tenerife.
Migrants came mainly from Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea, after crossings lasting four to seven days. Rescue teams have provisionally counted at least 120 women and 173 minors among those landed. The largest group, 240 people including 12 women and 36 children, had left Gunjur six days earlier. At La Restinga, 92 people from The Gambia docked in the evening, including a woman four months pregnant and an 18-month-old child.
Six Salvamento Marítimo boats and two Guardia Civil patrol vessels were deployed. Seventeen people were hospitalised on Gran Canaria upon landing, and one more on Tenerife. On Sunday, operations continued: a new boat from Senegal, carrying 79 people, was in turn rescued.
Departures picked up sharply at the start of the month, with more than 3,200 people rescued off the archipelago during the first six days of November. Arrivals nonetheless remain 5.5% lower than in the same period last year, from January to 31 October, according to government data. Spain’s Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, is due to travel to El Hierro on Sunday to discuss this influx. This route from West Africa is among the deadliest in the world, and crossings generally resume in autumn, when the sea calms.
