FALCON POWERS – San Bartolome de Tirajana (Spain) (Reuters) – Dozens of exhausted migrants arrived on a wooden boat to a beach in Spain’s Canary Islands early on Friday, amid a sharp increase in perilous crossings from Africa, with emergency workers and stunned beachgoers rushing to provide assistance.
The authorities said the boat reached the shore of Las Barias on the island of Gran Canaria with 64 people on board. Eleven migrants were taken to hospitals, and some were airlifted by helicopter as four were in critical condition.
The Spanish Interior Ministry reported that the number of irregular migrants arriving by sea to the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean increased by 160% between January and July 15 compared to the previous year, reaching a total of around 20,000.
The total number of those arriving by sea to Spain, including the mainland, increased by 88% to around 25,300 people.
