Some 230 African migrants were taken to Spain’s Canary Islands after authorities rescued them at sea in the biggest-ever landing here of a single ship, officials said Tuesday.
Coastguards spotted the wooden boat when it was about 50 nautical miles (92 kilometres) south of the Atlantic archipelago and took them to the port of Los Cristianos in Tenerife late Monday.
It was the largest-ever migrant arrival from a single boat in the Canary Islands, a spokesman for the representative of the central government of the archipelago told AFP.
All the Africans were men and they included about 20 minors, a maritime rescue services spokesman said.
They were in relatively good health except for six who suffered from “mild hypothermia,” he added.
“Poverty and hunger force these people to gamble with their lives,” said Jose Segura, a Socialist deputy representing the Canaries. “The solution is for rich countries to invest in Africa.”
Spain is one of the most popular destinations in Europe for African would-be immigrants.
Migrants traditionally attempted to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to get to the Spanish mainland but a crackdown there has led traffickers to increasingly use longer and more dangerous routes, including to Spain’s Canary Islands located to the west of Morocco.
Nearly 5,400 illegal immigrants have arrived on the Canary Islands so far this year, down from the 6,655 who landed on the archipelago during the same period in 2007, according to government figures.
Authorities fear many of the thousands of Africans who make the perilous journey to Spanish soil each year die of thirst, hunger or in boat accidents, although there is no way of knowing the exact numbers.
A Spanish humanitarian group, the Organisation for Human Rights in Andalusia (APDH-A), estimates a total of 921 would-be illegal immigrants died at sea in 2007 as they tried to reach Spain.
