The number of migrants arriving on the Canary Islands by sea has hit ‘crisis levels’

The number of migrants arriving on the Canary Islands has hit ‘crisis levels’, officials have warned, as women and children have to be put up in ‘four-star’ hotels to cope.

The archipelago’s government is pressing Spain to take urgent action as boats crammed with men, women and children continue to arrive on the islands on a daily basis, putting an enormous strain on resources and accommodation.

One source said 20 women and children are having to be housed in a ‘well-known four-star hotel’ in Gran Canaria’s capital Las Palmas because there is no other place for them to go. They are said to have been staying there for at least two weeks. 

Another 400 immigrants have been placed in other accommodation around Gran Canaria or sent to the other islands in the Canaries. 

On Thursday, dozens of corpses appeared on the beaches of Mauritania, Africa after a small boat carrying at least 150 migrants sank after crashing into rocks while making its way to the Canaries.

It is believed some 62 people died in the crash, including seven women and a two-year-old girl. 

The Maritime Rescue service also intervened another boat with 30 people on board when they were 160 miles south of Gran Canaria yesterday, it was reported. 

A government spokesman said a total of 1,546 people have arrived in the Canary Islands in boats from Africa so far this year, 262 of them minors. 

Reception centres are said to be overflowing and it is claimed some migrants caught by the police have been forced to sleep in the streets and even in prison cells and churches. 

The Canary Government has made a formal request to Spain to ask the African countries from where many migrants originate to introduce new policies and tighten up security.

Canary Executive spokesman, Julio Pérez, said checks put in place ‘in the bad years of immigration’ have since decreased. 

The government spokesman added that border control is a competence of the state, which is why he has demanded Spain ‘intensifies and activates the policies of action at source’. 

He has also advocated joint patrols with the police of African countries and the continued presence of representatives of the Spanish Government in those areas.

So far in 2019, some 648 migrants from Maghreb, Northwest Africa, and 675 people from sub-Saharan Africa have arrived in the Canary Islands.

This is a significant increase from 643 and 159 respectively last year, and 80 Maghreb and 107 sub-Saharan migrants in 2017.   

The increase in the number of those arriving from the Maghreb is said to be due to the decreased intensity of the Spanish Government’s border control device. It is said around 50 per cent of migratory movements have been cut in the Mediterranean, however, where more means have been concentrated. 

This has caused migrants to instead travel towards the Canary Islands.