Alex Trelinski
OVER 10,400 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year according to a report published on Thursday by a migration rights group.
On average, 30 migrants died every day in 2024 attempting to reach the country by boat, according to Caminando Fronteras.
The overall death toll rose 58% compared to last year, the report added.
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Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands which has been increasingly been used as a stepping stone to get asylum in mainland Spain and the rest of Europe.
Caminando Fronteras said most of the 10,457 deaths recorded up until Dec. 15. took place along that crossing, the so-called Atlantic route — considered one of the world’s most dangerous.
The organisation compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued.
It included 1,538 children and 421 women among the dead with April and May the deadliest months, according to the report.
Caminando Fronteras also noted a ‘sharp increase’ in 2024 in boats leaving from Mauritania, which it said became the main departure point on the route to the Canaries.
In February, Spain pledged €210 million in aid to Mauritania to help it crack down on human smugglers and stop boat journeys.
Spain’s interior ministry says more than 57 700 migrants reached Spain by boat up to December 15 this year- a roughly 12% up on the same period in 2023.
The vast majority of them came via the Atlantic route.
