More than 1,000 migrants from Africa arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday.
Among this huge number of people making the most dangerous journey were 320 people on one boat, which rescuers say was the most crowded of all.
Red Cross officials who treat migrants said a wooden boat arriving on the island of El Hierro became a record-breaker for the number of people arriving on a single vessel. It broke the record of a boat with 271 people arriving on El Hierro Island on 3 October.
According to the Red Cross, 783 people arrived on Saturday on El Hierro, 98 on Tenerife and 150 on Gran Canaria. Among the boat passengers there were women and small children.
On 19 October, Spain’s acting migration minister pledged to provide the Canary Islands with a €50m aid package to help them cope with the “extraordinary migration flow”.
Migrants arriving by boat in Spain spend up to 72 hours in police custody, for identification, then are moved into various reception or detention centers depending on their cases. Although some are deported, most apply for asylum and are taken to mainland Spain for their petitions to be studied.
Seven islands in the Atlantic archipelago have become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Spain. This year, there has been a sharp increase in the number of attempted border crossings from Senegal and other African countries. According to official figures, 23,537 migrants arrived on the islands between 1 January and 15 October this year, an 80% increase on the same period last year. According to the charity Walking Borders, around 1,000 people have died this year while attempting to cross.
Earlier, the Italian island of Lampedusa faced a huge influx of migrants from Africa. It is the first port of call for many migrants who intend to enter the European Union.
