Charlie Smith
YESTERDAY 17 migrants were killed in shipwrecks as they travelled from North Africa to Spain on wooden rafts.
One of the African migrants’ makeshift boats hit a reef near the Strait of Gibraltar and the other was located off the coast near Cadiz, the Spanish coast guard confirmed.
Authorities found two rafts and rescued over 100 other migrants within the space of 24 hours.
All victims are male, 13 of whom were killed near the Strait of Gibraltar, while the other four died near Cadiz.
Most migrants are believed to be from Algeria and Morocco, and many survivors have now been taken back to the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla.
The total death toll of migrants travelling to Spain now reaches 566, a UN Migration Agency report confirmed today, while the number of arrivals to Spain now stands at 49,013.
Spain is ‘the region’s most active destination point this year, with just under 50% of all 2018 arrivals,’ according to the migration watchdog’s publication.
So far this year, Europe has seen 100,630 migrant arrivals by sea, making 2018, the 5th straight year migrant and refugee landings have exceeded the 100,000 mark.
In total 1,989 migrants have died in 2018, as they attempt to make the crossing into mainland Europe.
