MADRID (Reuters) – Four migrants were found dead and three were treated for acute sunburn after their boat reached the Canary island of Tenerife on Tuesday, Spanish coastguards said.
A total of 47 migrants were on the boat.
The number of undocumented migrants arriving in Spain’s Canary Islands was more than eight times higher in 2020 than in 2019, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and other industries in north and sub-Saharan Africa pushing many more to embark on this dangerous journey.
Hundreds died or went missing last year making the crossing to the Spanish islands in the Atlantic Ocean, often in rickety, overcrowded boats with unreliable engines, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has said.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo,; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Ed Osmond)
