Migrants who died trying to reach Spain in ‘deadliest year’ almost tripled

An average of 18 migrants a day, or a total of 6,618, lost their lives trying to reach Spanish shores, a figure that almost tripled compared to the 2,390 deaths recorded in 2022, a report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) revealed on Tuesday.

According to data from the “Right to Life Monitoring” report, presented on Tuesday in Madrid, 2023 was the “deadliest” year since the humanitarian aid organisation began to gather reliable data (2007).

Among those who lost their lives on the access routes to Spain in 2023, 363 were women, and 384 were children, the report states.

The vast majority of those who died (6,007) lost their lives on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands. In contrast, 434 people died on the Algerian route in the western Mediterranean, 147 migrants in the Strait of Gibraltar and 30 on the Alboran Sea route.

Most of the migrants tried to reach the Spanish coast in fragile boats (called “pateras” or “cayucos” in Spanish), and many of them were victims of human trafficking mafias, the report states.

In 2023, as many as 56,852 people attempted to enter Spain irregularly, by sea or land, 82.1 % more than in the previous year, according to data from the Spanish Interior Ministry.

Of this figure, 39,910 were counted off the Canary Islands’ coasts, 154.5 % more than in 2022.

Caminando Fronteras, which regularly publishes figures of deaths in the dangerous crossings towards Spain obtained through alerts received from the sea and with information from migrant families and communities, counted 84 precarious boats that disappeared last year with all the people on board.

Most deaths were recorded in October (2,370), followed by June (1,197) and November (1,023).

Among the dead are migrants from 17 countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Comoros, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Mauritania, Senegal, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)

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