Current:Home > InvestA Spanish official says spotter planes are helping curtail the number of West African migrant boats-InfoLens
A Spanish official says spotter planes are helping curtail the number of West African migrant boats
View Date:2024-12-23 14:58:20
MADRID (AP) — The deployment of two Spanish surveillance planes to watch for migrant boats heading on the treacherous route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands has enabled authorities to stop 59 canoes from Senegal and Gambia carrying around 7,200 migrants in the past two months, a senior official said Friday.
The boats that were stopped accounted for around half of those that officials believed would otherwise be heading to the Canary Islands off northwest Africa over that period, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
The archipelago has witnessed a record number of irregular migrant arrivals this year.
Grande-Marlaska told reporters during a visit to the archipelago that “we have saved lives, because you know that the Canary Islands route is a very dangerous route.” The spotter planes are stationed in Senegal and the Canary Islands, he said.
Grande-Marlaska held talks in the islands with the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, amid continental efforts to help Spain stanch a record number this year of migrants to the Canary Islands.
Johansson said that this year more than 36,000 migrants have arrived in the Canary Islands by sea, more than 4,000 of them unaccompanied minors.
That exceeded the migration numbers of 2006, the last migrant surge in the archipelago, when 31,678 migrants disembarked.
Most of the migrants heading to the Canary Islands come from Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco, officials say.
Their journey is one of the longest and deadliest to Europe. At least 512 people have died so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, though the figure is believed to be a vast undercount.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares began a two-day trip to Senegal and Mauritania on Friday to discuss the Canary Island migration situation with local authorities.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
veryGood! (688)
Related
- Michael Jordan and driver Tyler Reddick come up short in bid for NASCAR championship
- Supreme Court could reel in power of federal agencies with dual fights over fishing rule
- Rhode Island governor says higher wages, better student scores and new housing among his top goals
- Two Malaysian filmmakers are charged with offending the religious feelings of others in banned film
- GreenBox Systems will spend $144 million to build an automated warehouse in Georgia
- Georgia economist warns of recession as governor says his budget will spur growth
- Rhode Island governor says higher wages, better student scores and new housing among his top goals
- China’s population drops for a second straight year as deaths jump
- NFL Week 10 injury report: Live updates on active, inactive players for Sunday's games
- Hit your 2024 exercise goals with these VR fitness apps and games
Ranking
- A Pipeline Runs Through It
- Claire Fagin, 1st woman to lead an Ivy League institution, dies at 97, Pennsylvania university says
- Mexican writer José Agustín, who chronicled rock and society in the 1960s and 70s, has died at 79
- Justice Department report into Uvalde school shooting expected this week
- Fire crews gain greater control over destructive Southern California wildfire
- Emmy Awards get record low ratings with audience of 4.3 million people
- US, South Korea and Japan conduct naval drills as tensions deepen with North Korea
- Officials respond to pipeline leak at Point Thomson gas field on Alaska’s North Slope
Recommendation
-
A $1 billion proposal is the latest plan to refurbish and save the iconic Houston Astrodome
-
Lawmakers announce bipartisan effort to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses
-
Mississippi lawmakers to weigh incentives for an EV battery plant that could employ 2,000
-
Apple plans to remove sensor from some watch models depending on how a court rules in patent dispute
-
Jury awards Abu Ghraib detainees $42 million, holds contractor responsible
-
Wrestler Hulk Hogan helps rescue teenage girl trapped after Florida car crash
-
How Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade Become One of Hollywood's Biggest Success Stories
-
NYPD says 2 officers shot during domestic call in Brooklyn expected to recover; suspect also wounded