Tragedy at sea: More than 6,600 migrants died in 2023 trying to reach Spain’s shores

MORE than 6,600 would-be migrants died in 2023 trying to reach Spanish shores. The tragic figure works out at 18 deaths per day across the year.

That’s according to figures from the organisation Ca-minando Fronteras, and represents an increase of 177% compared to the previous year, when there were 2,390 confirmed deaths. 

The organisation’s latest report, ‘Monitoring the Right to Life 2023’, shows that 6,618 migrants lost their lives making the often-perilous crossings to Spain. Of these, 6,007 were along the so-called ‘Canaries route’, as migrants tried to reach Spain’s Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa. 

Of the total deaths last year, 363 were women and 384 were children. What’s more, a total of 84 vessels completely disappeared with all of their passengers on board. 

“While these figures are terrible, we know that the real number is even greater,” Helena Maleno, the coordinator of the investigation, told a press conference on Tuesday, as reported by news agency Europa Press. “The year 2023 was a terrible one, it was a massacre on the borders of the Spanish state,” she added. 

She blamed the increase from one year to the next on governments ‘prioritising border control’ instead of focusing on the ‘right to life’.

“Failure to provide assistance has become established as a common practice,” she complained. 

Read more:

• Nearly a thousand migrants have arrived on Spanish shores since Friday alone
• The regions in Spain which take in the highest number of boat migrants
• Migrants storm beach in southern Spain as authorities reveal hundreds have made the crossing by boat from Africa