عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

5 Migrants Die Trying to Reach Canary Islands

Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
TT
20
TT

5 Migrants Die Trying to Reach Canary Islands

Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez

Five African migrants have died trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands by boat, officials said Friday, two days after another vessel was spotted near the archipelago with 15 dead migrants on board.

A Spanish air force patrol plane detected the boat about 110 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of the island of Gran Canaria and alerted Spain's maritime rescue service which intercepted the vessel, a spokeswoman for the service said.

Rescuers found 12 people on board, several of them in poor health, and four bodies, AFP quoted her as saying.

Two of the migrants were evacuated by helicopter to a health center in Gran Canaria, where one of them later died.

Spain's maritime rescue service discovered a boat near the island on Wednesday with 15 dead migrants on board.

At the beginning of the month at least 27 migrants who were trying to reach the Canaries died when their vessel failed off the coast of Mauritania.

Illegal migration to the islands, in the Atlantic Ocean west of Morocco, has risen over six-fold this year to 3,448 people as of August 16, despite a 26.6 percent drop in overall seaborne arrivals to Spain, according to interior ministry data.

Migrant rights groups say heightened security across the Mediterranean is likely driving more migrants to risk the perilous Atlantic crossing.

A total of 239 migrants have died trying to reach the Canaries between January 1 and August 19, compared to 210 during all of last year, and just 43 in 2018, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
TT
20
TT

RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.