PL | EN
31 January 2021
#Migration monitor
Migration monitor

At least 58 people died on their way to Canary Islands

A boat that had departed from the Gambian town Barra in the direction of the Canary Islands in Spain capsized when it hit a rock near the coast of Mauritania in the Atlantic Ocean on December 4th, 2019. At least 58 people drowned, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). At least 83 others managed to swim to shore, including ten minors, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The vessel was carrying about 150 people. Most of the passengers were young, between 20 and 30 years old, and most of them were from Gambia. This route from West Africa to the Canary Islands used to be one of the main routes for African migrants to start a new life in Europe. Between 2005 and 2010, thousands of people died at this sea near Mauritania coast, trying to reach the Canary Islands.

Over 35,000 Gambians arrived in Europe between 2014 and 2018, according to UNHCR. IOM estimates that some 158 people died trying to reach the Canary Islands this year, compared to 43 people last year. 

The Mediterranean Sea continues to be the deadliest border. 1,239 people have died in the Mediterranean in 2019 (from January 1st to December 10th) trying to start a new life in Europe, according to the project ‘Missing Migrants’ that tracks deaths along migratory routes.

More about: Migration
Read also
The erasure of Tibet, the Kalassmai language and Japanese onomatopoeia
The erasure of Tibet, the Kalassmai language and Japanese onomatopoeia
In the ruins of the ancient capital of the Hittites, Hattusa (now Boğazköy) in Turkey, approximately 30,000 documents on clay tablets, complete and composed of fragments, were found. Scientists found, among others, traces of a previously unknown Middle Eastern language that was lost for 3,000 years. It is the Kalasmai language – according to archaeologists, […]
Armaments and subsequent strategic pacts in Asia
Armaments and subsequent strategic pacts in Asia
Indonesia and the United States have signed a defence cooperation agreement to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Previously, the US concluded a defence cooperation agreement with Papua New Guinea and a strategic partnership with Vietnam. Meanwhile, the US and South Korea updated their security agreement to counter nuclear and missile threats from North […]
Panamanians, Kofani and Tohono O’odham Nation defending the environment
Panamanians, Kofani and Tohono O’odham Nation defending the environment
Living between the foothills of the Andes and the Amazon rainforest, the indigenous Kofani (A’i Cofán) people fight to protect their lands from gold miners. Kofani seek help in the courts and justice armed with spears, drones and GPS navigation. The gold-fever invaders destroy their sacred Aguarico river, ravage forests and poison ecosystems with mercury, […]
Geological discoveries and a new concept of light
Geological discoveries and a new concept of light
According to researchers from the California Institute of Technology, the gigantic collision of the protoplanet Theia with the proto-Earth approximately 4,5 billion years ago could have formed not only the Earth’s Moon but also two continent-sized regions in the Earth’s mantle. Scientists refer to the discovery in the 1980s of two areas of unusual material […]
Loneliness: new definitions and loneliness among EU residents
Loneliness: new definitions and loneliness among EU residents
Why do scientists expand the definition of loneliness to include the feeling of disconnection from animals, places, habits, rituals or weather? For example, Turkana shepherds in Kenya have to abandon their seasonal lifestyle due to climate change, droughts and violence in the region. Families are separated from farm animals, and social bonds based on the […]
Previous issues