More than 4,000 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain in 2021

More than 4,000 migrants died or disappeared last year during their sea crossing to Spain, twice more than in 2020, according to a report published Monday, January 3 by the NGO Caminando Fronteras.

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This NGO - which takes stock of these migratory tragedies thanks to calls from migrants or their relatives to its emergency numbers - has identified 4,404 migrants dead or missing on the migratory routes to Spain in 2021, i.e. 12 per day in average, which makes this year the deadliest since at least 2015, the date of the NGO's work.

The bodies of almost all of them (94%) have never been found and are therefore counted as missing.

In 2020, Caminando Fronteras had identified 2,170 dead or missing.

"These are the pain figures"

The results of this NGO for 2021 are much higher than that of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which for its part recorded at least 955 dead or missing in the crossing to the Canary Islands and 324 to Spain. mainland and the Balearic Islands from Morocco and Algeria. But this UN agency also estimates that 2021 was an extremely murderous year, the deadliest since 1997 according to its data and those of the Spanish NGO APDHA.

According to Caminando Fronteras, the vast majority (4,016) of these migrants disappeared while trying to reach the Canaries from north-west Africa, a very dangerous route but much more traveled in recent years due to the strengthening of controls in the Mediterranean, explained María González Rollán, co-author of the NGO's annual report. "

" she lamented to the press, stressing also the "

" of migratory routes to Spain, where 628 women and 205 children died or disappeared in 2021 according to the 'NGO.

Coordinator of Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno denounced for her part "

" for the rescues and highlighted the responsibility of "

Smugglers as well as the lack of coordination between Spain and Morocco due to their diplomatic quarrel.

This crisis, caused by the reception in Spain for medical reasons of the leader of the independence activists of Western Sahara, had led to the arrival of more than 10,000 migrants in mid-May in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, thanks to a relaxation controls by Rabat.

At least 37,385 migrants arrived on the Spanish coast in 2021, according to the latest figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.

Spain remains one of the main gateways for illegal migrants to Europe.