Migrant arrivals to Canarias, Almeria unabated

Migrants in shallow-bottomed launch rescued off Gran Canaria in February 2016. Photo: Salvamento Maritimo / 20minutos
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• Salvamento Marítimo rescues 57 migrants off Canaries, 33 off coast of Almeria
• Steady arrival of sub-Saharan economic migrants, asylum seekers continues

As Spain begins to accept and resettle groups of refugees from war-torn Syria, Iraq and similar countries from temporary camps in Greece and Italy, the ongoing flow of economic migrants and political asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa continues apace, with the Spanish Salvamento Marítimo coast guard agency having reported the rescue on Sunday of 57 migrants in a shallow-bottomed boat in the Atlantic Ocean about 120 kilometers off the coast of Gran Canaria island.

The group of mainly sub-Saharan emigres consisted of 51 men and 6 women, including three minors and one pregnant woman, who had set sail Saturday night from Cape Bojador, along the the northern coast of the Western Sahara.

On Spain’s Mediterranean coast near Almeria, meanwhile, the local office of the coast guard agency reported the rescue of a similar shallow-bottomed boat holding 33 occupants — 29 men and four women — who had set sail early Sunday morning from Kariat, near the Moroccan city of Nador.

On May 30th, a Spanish coast guard ship near Ceuta rescued 12 men from the sub-Saharan African countries of Guinea Conakry, Gambia, Kenia, Costa de Marfil y Mauritania, after the small boat they were travelling in capsized while trying to reach Spain’s north African enclave.

► Read More in Spanish at 20minutos and Europa Press …

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