A man was found dead in a boat carrying 44 other migrants, which, after a week at sea, arrived on Sunday in Gran Canaria, one of the islands of the Canary archipelago, the Spanish coast guard said.
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The urgency of an immigration policy
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A rescue operation was launched after the ship was spotted approaching the beach of Anfi del Mar, in the south of the island, said a spokeswoman for the coast guard.
The 44 migrants in the boat - all men including minors, and from the Maghreb - received medical treatment, before being taken to the nearby port of Arguineguin for examination, she added.
The boat would have left Morocco.
Meanwhile, the coast guard on Sunday found the body of another migrant off the southern coast of Spain after a boat carrying migrants, spotted west of Cape Trafalgar, sank Thursday.
This latest discovery brings the number of bodies found to 9, while 16 other migrants are still missing.
Two men were found alive on board the boat, and a woman rescued from the seas.
The coast guard also rescued 16 ships off the Balearic Islands on Sunday, sheltering 203 people, including 8 women, said the delegation of the Spanish government in the archipelago.
Spain is one of the main gateways to Europe for migrants departing from North Africa.
More than 27,000 migrants arrived by sea in Spain, in the Balearic or Canary Islands, between January and the end of September, or 54% more than in 2020, over the same period, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
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This sea route is strewn with pitfalls: at least 1,025 people died during the crossing in 2021, which has already become “
the deadliest year on the migratory route to Spain
”, according to the International Organization for migration.