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Over one thousand migrants reach Spain’s Canary Islands in single day

A group of migrants in a wooden boat are towed by a Spanish coast guard vessel to the port of Arguineguin, in the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, on 21st October, 2023

Arguineguin, Gran Canaria Reuters More than 1,000 migrants arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands in a single day on Saturday after making the dangerous journey from Africa, including on a boat carrying 320 people that rescuers said was the most packed vessel they had ever seen.  The Red Cross, which was helping to treat the migrants, […]

Over 8,500 migrants reach Spain’s Canary Islands in two weeks – ministry data

A group of migrants in a wooden boat are towed by a Spanish coast guard vessel to the port of Arguineguin, in the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, on 12th October, 2023.

Madrid, SpainReuters At least 8,561 migrants have reached the Canary Islands over the past two weeks, representing more than a third of this year’s total arrivals, data from Spain’s interior ministry showed on Monday. Between 1st January and 15th October of this year, the islands in the Atlantic received 23,537 migrants, an 80 per cent […]

Wildfires in Spain’s La Palma island forces evacuations as heatwave grips Europe

A view of a wildfire in La Palma, Spain, on 15th July, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a social media video

Barcelona Reuters At least 2,000 people have been evacuated as a forest fire burned out of control in the Spanish island of La Palma, authorities said on Saturday, as Europe was gripped by a heatwave. Many parts of southern Spain saw scorching temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius last week and even higher temperatures are […]

Spanish volcano victims feel forgotten, want change from election

Dutch Karin Bansgerg, 57, waters the trees on the land she has bought to build her new house with the aid given to her by the government after losing her house because of the Tajogaite volcano eruption on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain, on 6th July, 2023

La Palma, Spain Reuters Living in rows of look-alike makeshift homes as hardened black lava covers the once-bucolic valleys where they used to dwell, many residents of the Spanish island of La Palma feel resentment and yearn for political change in this month’s general election. The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano over three months […]

Senegal disputes reports 300 migrants lost at sea, migrant group disagrees

A migrant from Senegal, Mohamed Fane, who arrived in wooden boat to the Spanish island of Gran Canaria walks in a cemetery of abandoned wooden boats in Arinaga. Spain, on 4th August, 2022.

Dakar, Senegal/Madrid, Spain Reuters Authorities in Senegal have disputed reports that 300 people travelling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands disappeared last week as “unfounded” and said hundreds had been rescued in Moroccan territorial waters.  But the migrant aid group that originally reported the missing boats, Walking Borders, said it believed […]

Spain rescues boat with 86 migrants, hundreds likely still missing

Migrants walk towards a Red Cross tent after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin, in the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, on 10th July, 2023.

Madrid, SpainReuters Spanish maritime rescue that dispatched a plane and a ship to search for a fishing vessel from Senegal with about 200 migrants on board and missing for nearly two weeks, on Monday discovered what appears to be a different migrant boat. The reconnaissance plane spotted a boat 114 kilometres to the south of […]

At least 300 migrants missing at sea near Spanish Canary Islands, aid group says

Dozens of wooden boats used by migrants to reach the Canary Islands are seen at the Port of Arinaga, in the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, on 7th June, 2022

Madrid, SpainReuters At least 300 people who were travelling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands have disappeared, migrant aid group Walking Borders said on Sunday.  Dozens of wooden boats used by migrants to reach the Canary Islands are seen at the Port of Arinaga, in the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, […]

More than 30 feared dead as dinghy bound for Spain’s Canary Islands sinks

Dozens of wooden boats used by migrants to reach the Canary Islands are seen at the Port of Arinaga, in the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, on 7th June, 2022.

Madrid, Spain Reuters More than 30 migrants were feared dead after a dinghy headed for Spain’s Canary Islands sank on Wednesday, two migration-focused organisations said, as they criticised Spain and Morocco for not intervening earlier to rescue the vessel’s passengers. The groups, Walking Borders and Alarm Phone, said the dinghy was originally carrying around 60 […]

“No one can stop them”: African migrants aim for Spain’s Canary Islands

Spain migration1

Gran Canaria, SpainReuters Standing in a cemetery of abandoned boats, Mohamed Fane picks a West African franc off the floor and shudders at the traumatic memory of his voyage from Senegal to the Canary Islands.  After an arduous overland trip and months waiting, smugglers shepherded the 33-year-old carpenter into a flimsy wooden vessel with two […]