At least 978 people died or disappeared at sea in the first half of the year during their crossing to Spain, or nearly five per day on average, the NGO Caminando Fronteras said on Wednesday July 20.
This figure represents a decrease of half compared to the same period of 2021 (2087).
2021, the year in which borders reopened after they were closed due to the pandemic, had been a particularly deadly year, underlines the NGO, to explain this drop.
She also cites the recent decrease in the departure of migrants from the Moroccan coast against a background of normalization of diplomatic relations between Rabat and Madrid.
A particularly dangerous road
According to the NGO - which establishes this assessment thanks to emergency calls from migrants or their relatives, cross-checked with official and associative sources -, almost all of these bodies (87.83%) have never been found. and are therefore counted as missing.
Among the people identified, from around twenty African countries, 118 women were identified, according to the NGO.
According to Caminando Fronteras, the vast majority (800) of migrants have disappeared trying to reach the Canary archipelago from northwestern Africa, a particularly dangerous route and much more used in recent years due to the reinforcement controls in the Mediterranean.
Death toll in June
In its report, Caminando Fronteras denounces the lack of resources and coordination of sea rescue services in the various countries of the region.
The NGO also castigates a "
deadly policy of migration control
", pointing in particular to the recent tragedy in Melilla, a Spanish enclave located in northern Morocco.
At least 23 migrants died there on June 24 when some 2,000 people tried to cross the fence marking the border of the enclave, according to Moroccan authorities.
NGOs have reported a death toll of at least 37.
This toll is the deadliest ever recorded at Spain's land borders with Morocco.
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The pace of migrant arrivals has nevertheless slowed in Spain since mid-March and the end of the quarrel between Rabat and Madrid, which came after a reversal of the Spanish government on the question of Western Sahara.
The number of arrivals by sea in Spain, which is one of the main entry points for illegal migrants in Europe, fell by a third (35.7%) between the first and second quarters, according to a calculation made by AFP based on figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.
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