LThe Canary Islands Route has been settled so far this week with the rescue by Maritime Rescue of 887 migrantsthe majority of sub-Saharan origin, in 16 different boatsof which six of them were canoes, a type of large-capacity boat that has made a strong comeback in recent months.
Thus, according to data provided to EFE by Maritime Rescue, on Monday, August 7, a rescue was carried out in waters close to The iron 36 migrants of sub-Saharan origin aboard a canoe that was sailing in precarious conditions and after a journey with complications that forced several of its occupants to be referred to the hospital.
The next day, between Tuesday the 8th and Wednesday the 9th, they reached the coast of Lanzarote up to nine boats with 442 migrants, most of them North African, and a tenth that made it to the coasts of Fuerteventurawith 53 people on board, which brought the number for that day to 495 people rescued.
Thus, on Thursday the 10th he arrived on the shores Canary Islands a single cayuco, with 37 migrants on board that Salvamento disembarked in port of Los Cristianos, in Tenerife.
While throughout this Friday they have reached the coasts of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and El Hierro four other cayucos: one to the western island and two to the eastern island, with a total of 181 people on board, and one more to the port of La Restinga, with 138 immigrants who apparently could come from Senegal.
More canoes and more Senegalese migrants
In recent months, in arrivals to the Canary Islands there has been an upward trend in terms of the appearance of canoesa type of barge with a large capacity that, unlike the pneumatic ones, usually departs from further south and therefore arrives at Gran Canaria, Tenerife or, in the most extreme cases, as far as El Hierro.
In fact, in the last four months more than forty vessels of this type have been detected, which has led to multiplying, for example, the number of migrants reaching the coast of El Hierro, which until April had received only nine people, a figure that nevertheless rises to 949 (24 of them women) as of August 8, according to Red Cross data to which EFE has had access this week.
These data also show that during the first semester of the year, migrants who claim to be from Senegalese nationality who have managed to reach the islands through the Canary Islands route are already the majority, with 3,056 people of this nationality so far this year, surpassing Morocco as the predominant nationality.
This data represents 35.2% of the total (8,693) of the arrivals of migrants to the Canary Islands ahead of Moroccan migrants, who reach 2,199 (25.3%) and those from the Ivory Coast (871 people, 10% ).
The Government of the Canary Islands demands a reinforcement in the assistance services for migrants
The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), has demanded this Friday from the State a reinforcement of assistance services for migrants given the upturn in arrivals this week, in which Salvamento has so far rescued 887 people from 16 boats so far this week.
The Canarian president has asked the Government for “information on its efforts in the countries of origin and transit”, as well as an “effective reinforcement” of the assistance provided to migrants “to guarantee their lives at sea”, especially in Lanzarote and El Hierro, where a good part of the last boats have arrived and which have fewer resources than the islands of the capital.
Clavijo, through his Twitter account, has also lamented the latest figures left by the so-called Canary Islands Route, the deadliest of those used by migrants to reach Europe, in a message on the social network Twitter.
“Unfortunately, the latest figures for the Canary Route endorse our worst omens with increasing arrivals of migrants to the islands,” commented the regional president.
And he recalled that the months “of better weather conditions” are approaching to be able to cross the Atlantic to the Canary Islands.
Most of the 887 people who have arrived on the Canary coasts so far this week are of sub-Saharan origin, with an upward trend in recent months of migrants who claim to be of Senegalese nationality, which according to recent data already account for 35 .2% of the total (3,056 of 8,693).
After the Senegalese, there are Moroccan migrants, who reach 2,199 (25.3% of the total) and those from the Ivory Coast (871 people, 10%). | EFE
