The Spanish Coast Guard announced the rescue of 280 migrants from drowning, who were on board a boat that had been spotted earlier off the Canary Islands.
Emergency services said on Tuesday, October 3, that the rescued migrants included ten minors, who made this journey on a single boat through one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world, according to the “InfoMigrants” website.
Since the beginning of summer, the migration route to the Canary Islands, Europe’s gateway over the Atlantic Ocean, has witnessed a noticeable increase in attempts to cross from the coasts of northwest Africa.
The Canary Islands witnessed the arrival of 14,976 migrants between January 1 and September 30, an increase of 19.8 percent compared to the same period in 2022, according to the latest figures issued by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.
These islands, located off the coast of West Africa, have become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Spain, with a much smaller number also seeking to cross the Mediterranean to the Spanish mainland.
Migration attempts increase in the summer in particular, and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa usually take the migration route across the Atlantic Ocean, which is one of the deadliest routes in the world.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration reported that at least 559 people, including 22 children, died last year while trying to reach the Canary Islands.
Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, which unlike the International Organization for Migration relies on emergency contacts with irregular migrants at sea or their relatives, estimates that 778 migrants died or went missing on this migration route in the first half of the year.