Spain’s Canaries see surge in deaths on top West African migration route via Mauritania

Mauritania has overtaken Senegal as the main departure point for those taking on the perilous Atlantic crossing to the Spain’s Canary Islands, during which more than 5,000 people died in the first five months of this year.

95% of migrants who try to reach Spain by sea do so on Atlantic Ocean crossings from West and Northwest Africa to the Canary Islands, a new report on the world’s deadliest migration route reveals. Mauritania has overtaken Senegal as the main departure point, representing 3,600 of the deaths for the first four months of this year, according to the report from Caminando Fronteras, or Walking Borders, a collective dedicated to protecting migrant communities.

As the New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News) reported, arrivals in this Spanish archipelago have soared by a whooping 700% in the first five months of 2024 over the same period in 2023.

Some 83% of the 7,270 people who arrived in the Canary Islands in January 2024 – a 1,184% increase compared to the same month in 2023 – left from Mauritania. “Currently, most migrants are departing from Mauritania with different profiles. We’re seeing a significant increase in the number of women, as well as younger migrants and a wider range of nationalities from the Sahel region,” Helena Maleno, the director of Ca-minando Fronteras said. “We’re also witnessing a concerning rise in the number of disappearances along this route.”

Experts say that this shift in the migration route from Senegal to Mauritania is largely due to the EU strategy of partnering with third countries to try to reduce migration along particular routes. “When a route is shut, another one opens up,” Sani Ladan, a Madrid-based migration expert said.