The deadly Atlantic crossing to the Canary Islands
Every cayuco that sets sail from the African coast towards the Canary Islands is Russian roulette on the high seas. In the first five months of the year alone, at least 1,482 people have died or disappeared in the Atlantic trying to reach the archipelago aboard precarious vessels, according to the latest report, “Monitoring the Right to Life on the Euro-African Western Border,” by the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
In the same period, 10,983 migrants managed to reach the Canary Islands’ coasts, which means that almost 12 percent of those who attempted the crossing died in the attempt. The balance is devastating: every eight hours a life is lost on the deadliest migratory route, which accounts for 80% of all deaths.
Alarming statistics from the Atlantic route
Over the past year, the NGO put the number of people who died on the Atlantic route at 9,757, which has reduced the lethality rate. Between January and May, 113 shipwrecks of boats attempting to reach the Spanish coast were recorded. In total, there were 1,865 victims who failed to reach Europe, of whom 342 were children and 112 were women.
The victims came from 22 different countries: in addition to migrants from Mali, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal – the main countries sending migrants to the islands – the dead also included people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Bangladesh. Most of the canoes departed from the coast of Mauritania, which has been the most active source of departures since the last quarter of 2024, although boats also departed from Senegal, Gambia, Morocco and the Sahara.
Calls for prioritizing life protection
“Although the numbers are down compared to the same period last year, we cannot normalize this reality. This is why we must continue to demand that the different countries prioritize the protection of life over migration control policies,” warns Helena Maleno, coordinator of the research.
The balance was particularly dramatic in the first two months of the year, with 767 deaths in January and 618 in February. In addition, 38 boats disappeared completely, swallowed up by the ocean, and their occupants have never been heard from again.
Mediterranean and other routes claim additional lives
The Algerian route accounted for 328 fatalities, while 52 people died in the Strait of Gibraltar and three in the Alboran Sea. As it has been denouncing for years, Caminando Fronteras points to the lack of early activation of rescue resources, the absence of joint protocols and the lack of international collaboration with Algeria as determining factors in the high number of disappearances in the Mediterranean.
According to the authors of the report, almost half of the tragedies are a direct consequence of border control policies and the deterioration of mechanisms to protect life at sea. In the Strait of Gibraltar, the appearance of corpses in an advanced state of decomposition and with no possibility of identification reflects, according to the organization, a “systematic institutional neglect.”
Preventable deaths and rescue response concerns
Caminando Fronteras also stresses that many deaths due to dehydration and starvation could have been avoided with quicker and more coordinated responses, and criticizes the fact that rescue services only intervene when there is an imminent risk of sinking.
Recent arrival trends to the Canary Islands
According to the latest balance published by the Ministry of the Interior, arrivals in the Canary Islands have fallen by 40.6% from January 1 to June 15 compared to the same period in 2024, from 18,984 at this time last year to 11,284 in 2025. In the first 15 days of June, 301 people arrived on the islands, continuing the downward trend since the peak of last November, when 7,338 migrants arrived in a single month.
