MADRID: At least 6,618 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2023, when record numbers headed for the Canary Islands, a migr­ants’ rights group said on Tuesday.

This “shameful” figure is almost three times the number recorded in the previous year — 2,390 — and the highest since charity Caminando Front­eras, or Walking Borders, began keeping a tally in 2007, its coordinator, Helena Maleno, told a news conference.

The total includes 384 children, according to the organisation, which compiles its figures from families of migrants who died or went missing and from official rescue statistics.

Maleno blamed the rise in migrant deaths and disappearances last year on a lack of resources for rescuers. Nearly half involved migrants who had departed for Spain from Senegal.

The vast majority of fatalities — 6,007 — took place on the Atlantic migration route.

The number of migrants arriving illegally in Spain in 2023 nearly doubled from the previous year, reaching 56,852, according to interior ministry figures.

That was the highest number since 2018, when 64,298 migrants entered the country.

The majority, about 70 per cent, arrived in the Canary Islands, which, at their closest point, are barely 100km from the northwest coast of Africa.

‘Saved lives’

The direct journey from Senegal to the Canaries usually takes a week of difficult upwind sailing of around 1,600km.

Spain’s central government in October pledged an aid package worth 50 million euros ($54m) to help the archipelago cope with the surge in arrivals.

Spanish Interior Minis­ter Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Thursday this cooperation with African nations had stopped the departure of more than 27,000 would-be migrants to Spain last year.

“We have saved lives,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024