The migratory crisis that the Canary archipelago is suffering continues to break all statistics. Never before – until this Saturday – had a boat with more than 300 people on board arrived at the islands. But today, a boat from Senegal has arrived in El Hierro with 320 migrants, which is the boat with the largest number of people since the so-called Canary Islands route was opened in 1994, one of the deadliest in the world.
The figures made public by the Ministry of the Interior at the beginning of the week indicate what immigration experts have been warning since last June: an autumn of Senegalese canoes heading to the Canary Islands will shatter the record of irregular entries into the country. . Never before, since there have been biweekly records, have so many people arrived concentrated in 15 days. From October 1 to 15, 8,561 immigrants did so. But the number does not stop increasing.
So far this Saturday more than half a thousand immigrants have arrived in El Hierro in two boats. The first, with 320 on board, and the second with 212 immigrants, including several women and minors.
Furthermore, during this morning, as reported by the Efe Agency, another cayuco also arrived with 159 sub-Saharans. Another barge with almost a hundred people has also arrived in Los Cristianos, in Tenerife, after being rescued in Atlantic waters by Rescue personnel and the Civil Guard.
The president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has expressed himself on Twitter after the arrival of the canoe that has shattered all records. "Behind every historical record of occupants in a cayuco, behind every daily count of rescues are people who risk their lives fleeing hunger and war," he wrote on Twitter. "Our obligation is to place these migrants ahead of the statistics, guaranteeing them dignified and humane treatment," he added.
