Baby born on the migrant ship off Spain's coast

rescue operation in front of Lanzarote

Rescue workers from the Canary Islands met the rubber boat with 60 inmates, including 14 women and four children, off the coast of the island of Lanzarote. The rescue workers told the local media that the mother had released only 15 minutes before her arrival.

emotional rescue experience

DOMINGO Trujillo, the captain of the Guardamar Talía rescue boat, described the experience as "beautiful" and "very emotional". In an interview with the Spanish television institution RTVE, he emphasized that this was not the first time that he saw a newborn on a migrant boat. In 2020 he had already severed the umbilical cord of a child who was born on a similar trip.

increase in irregular migration

The Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago from seven islands off the northwest coast of Africa, recorded an increase in irregular migration by 17 %in 2024, according to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. The migrants mainly come from Mali, Senegal and Morocco, as reported by the European Border Protection Agency Frontex.

background of migration

The increase in migration is attributed to a "deteriorated security and humanitarian situation in the West African regions". Data show that this path has become Europe's new migration front line. According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, which is committed to the rights of migrants, this Atlantic migration path is the most fatal in the world.

migrants deceased on the way to Spain

In a recently published report, the NGO said that between January 1 and December 5 of the last year at least 10,457 migrants drowned or disappeared on the way to Spain, 9,757 of them on the Atlantic path.

political tensions in Spain

“The massive deaths continue on Europe's borders,” the journalist Sally Hayden told CNN. "In the past, many West Africans said that they were too anxious to take the so -called 'Atlantic path' because they know the risks, how to lose or to thirst through delays." Hayden, author of the award -winning book "My Fourth Time We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route," noted that the risk that many take, shows how difficult other routes have become.

Current challenges and measures

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior reported last week that in 2024 almost 64,000 “irregular migrants” came to the country, 73 % (46,843) of them over the Canary Islands. The migration pressure on the Canary Islands leads to political tensions in Madrid, since the opposition Partido Popular (PP) broke negotiations with the minority government in October

planned emergency accommodation for migrants

The Spanish government is considering establishing an emergency subcontract center for migrants who arrive on the coasts, possibly in an airport near Madrid. According to reports on Thursday, two more migrant boats were saved near the Canary Islands, one with 84 and one with 60 sub-Saha-occupants, according to the Spanish sea rescue agency in a post on X.