On Average Six Migrants Died Every Day Trying to Reach Europe Through Spain For Past Four Years, Report Claims

LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, GRAN, SPAIN - OCTOBER 03: Two members of Salvamento Maritimo l
Europa Press via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

That human traffickers are one of the most callous, murderous groups on earth today was dramatically underlined by new figures from a Spanish NGO which claimed that since 2018, an average of six migrants have died or are assumed dead after disappearing trying to reach Spain every day.

The Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras released figures this week claiming that since 2018 a total of 11,286 migrants have been either confirmed to have died or been reported missing from 2018 to 2022, averaging some six per day. The figures lay bare the huge death toll chalked up by people smugglers who make a quick buck selling dreams to desperate migrants, only to send them in many cases to their deaths on unseaworthy boats.

The NGO stated that the majority of deaths took place on the route from Western Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands, which accounted for 7,692 of the total number of deaths. As many as 1,227 women and 377 children are said to be among the victims of people smugglers, according to the group.

The figures back up a prior report in March by the Association for Human Rights of Andalusia, which stated that around one in ten deaths along the Spanish migrant route were women.

It is unclear how accurate the figures from the group are, as they have previously estimated that as many as 4,400 migrants died trying to reach Spain in 2021, a figure far higher than estimates by the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

According to the NGO, they estimate migrant deaths by looking at the data from distress calls as well as boats recorded missing at sea for over a month.

So far this year, however, the group has reported a decline in deaths compared to 2021, reporting a total of 2,154 deaths between January 1 and November 30. Overall illegal migrant numbers arriving in Spain have also declined this year by around 23 per cent, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.

According to the European Union border agency Frontex, the amount of people trying the routes to Spain have fallen this year, but the routes to other parts of Europe, namely the Central and Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Balkan route, have surged in 2022.

The Central Mediterranean route is known as the most deadly in Europe and figures released in October by the IOM revealed that since 2014, over 29,000 migrants have been led to their deaths by smugglers overall routes to Europe but admitted the figures could be an underestimate.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

 

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