African migrants after arriving at the coast of Gran Canaria island, Spain on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean sailing on a wooden boat, a group of 44 migrants arrived at Maspalomas beach.
More than half of the 16,000 migrants who arrived this year in the Spanish islands off northwest Africa did so in the last four weeks, a sharp influx worrying international and non-profit organizations.
That’s compared to around 1,500 arrivals recorded last year in the archipelago, better known for its vacation resorts popular among northern Europeans.
The new migrant focus on the perilous Canary Islands route, first seen in 2006, has come as authorities crack down on previously popular passages across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to European Union countries.