(Reuters) The number of undocumented migrants arriving in Spain’s Canary Islands on rickety boats was more than eight times higher in 2020 than the previous year, the Spanish Interior Ministry said on Monday.
As north and sub-Saharan Africans grew desperate after losing incomes from tourism and other industries because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 23,023 migrants arrived in the archipelago last year, up from 2,687 in 2019, the ministry said.
Hundreds of people died last year making the perilous crossing to the Spanish islands in the Atlantic Ocean, often in overcrowded boats with unreliable engines, the International Organization for Migration said.
