(AFP) After a three-day boat trip from Western Sahara, Mohceine Ait Lamadane reached the Canaries and from there travelled to Italy, taking advantage of a system swamped by arrivals and slowed by the coronavirus.
“I paid 2,000 euros ($2,430) for the crossing,” 23-year-old Lamdane told AFP in late November after disembarking at Arguineguin port in Gran Canaria where Spain’s coastguard drops off migrants picked up at sea.
And barely 10 days later, he was in Italy “with his two brothers,” confirmed his cousin Moulay Omar Semlali, 40, who lives in Gran Canaria, the archipelago’s largest island.
It was Semlali who picked him up from Arguineguin, a small fishing port that has in recent months taken centre stage in the crisis, with its temporary camp — that was only set up to process migrants and run virus tests — completely swamped.
