Aid group says 6,618 migrants died trying to reach Spain by boat in 2023

More than 6,600 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by boat last year, a Spanish non-profit organization said Tuesday.

The figure is more than double the number in the previous year, when the organization, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), said 2,390 died.

The organization said 2023 was the deadliest year since it began keeping records in 2007. Most of the 6,618 deaths recorded occurred on the so-called Atlantic route from west Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, just west of Morocco. The figure included 363 women and 384 children.

The vast majority of the fatalities, 6,007, occurred on attempts to cross the vast ocean separating northwestern Africa from the Canary Islands, making the Canary Islands the most lethal migration route in the world, according to Walking Borders.

Walking Borders found that those from 17 countries were killed trying to reach Spain. Most were from the African continent, but there were also victims from Palestine, Bangladesh, Syria, and Yemen.