Nearly 2,400 irregular migrants died or went missing last year while trying to reach Spain: NGO

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) - A Spanish nonprofit organization said Wednesday that 2,390 irregular migrants died or were reported missing last year while trying to reach Spain.

They included 288 women and 101 children, said Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), adding that 1,784 of the migrants died while trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands by boat.

It also drew attention to the “invisibility” of an increasingly popular route from Algeria to Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast.

At least 464 people died trying to reach Europe on this route in 2022, it noted.