Rabat – Eight undocumented migrants died off the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, Spanish rescue services said on Sunday, November 14.
Seven of the eight dead were found aboard an adrift inflatable boat, while the eighth died on land, the same sources added.
Spanish authorities said that the migrants who died are of “Maghreb origin.”
Meanwhile, rescue services reported the interception of 172 undocumented migrants over the weekend.
The last boat was found on Sunday morning with 32 migrants on board.
The rescued migrants were transported to the port of Arguineguin in the South-West coast of Gran Canaria island.
For years, the irregular gateway to Europe was concentrated in the north of Morocco. Most recently, illegal migrants tend to choose Morocco’s southern provinces to reach European territories.
The Canary Island is now known to be most migrants’ preferred gateway to Spain. The phenomenon was first observed in 2018, when the Spanish islands received 2,698 migrants in 2019, who arrived illegally from Morocco by sea.
Last month, Security services in Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra region aborted three irregular migration attempts to the Canary Islands, arresting a total of 20 migrants, including 12 women and three children.
In August, around 14 sub-saharan migrants died while trying to reach the Canary Islands from Morocco.
As a result, Moroccan authorities have intensified efforts to combat irregular migration attempts in southern Morocco.
Since 2017, Morocco has prevented more than 14,000 unauthorized migration attempts, according to official data from the Moroccan government.
Morocco’s security services have also dismantled over 5,000 trafficking networks and rescued over 80,500 migrants at sea.
