Nearly 2,200 migrants arrive in the Spanish Canary Islands this weekend
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on France 24, Bénin Web TV, TimesLIVE and Sowetan
Around 2,200 people arrived by sea in the Canary Islands at the weekend, according to the Spanish government, as reported by France 24. The peak came on Saturday, with at least 1,488 people rescued and up to 1,580 according to other tallies, an unprecedented volume on this Atlantic route.
Most of these arrivals landed at El Hierro, with 1,327 people arriving on thirteen boats. Two other boats arrived at Arguineguín on Gran Canaria, carrying 203 people, and at Los Cristianos on Tenerife, with 50 people. Among those disembarked were at least 120 women and 173 minors, according to a still provisional rescue tally.
Saturday surpassed the previous record of 1,461 people rescued in a single day, set on 7 November 2020 at Arguineguín. The boats had left Senegal, Gambia or Mauritania after four to seven days at sea. The largest group, 240 people, had left Gunjur, in Gambia, six days earlier. Another group of 92 people, also from Gambia, reached La Restinga, including a woman four months pregnant and an 18-month-old toddler.
Seventeen survivors were hospitalised on Gran Canaria, and another hospital transfer took place on Tenerife. The peak follows a sharp rise: more than 3,200 people had already been rescued in the archipelago’s waters during the first six days of November. Arrivals between January and 31 October remain, however, down 5.5% compared with last year, according to official government data.
On Sunday, rescue operations continued: a boat that had left Senegal, carrying 79 people, was recovered while two additional units were deployed. Spanish Minister for Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres is due to travel to El Hierro the same day to discuss the rise in arrivals.
