Over 200 migrants saved from boats on way to Canary Islands

MADRID (AP) — Over 200 migrants were saved by Spanish rescuers on the perilous seaborne route from Africa to the Canary Islands, Spanish authorities said Wednesday.

Emergency services for the Canary Islands said rescuers saved 90 people — 47 from sub-Sahara Africa and 43 from northern Africa — from two boats intercepted near the island of Gran Canaria.

Another 55 migrants — all from sub-Saharan countries — were attended by emergency services after being pulled from a boat in waters near the island of Fuerteventura.

And another 73 people from northern Africa were also rescued from two boats near the island of Lanzarote.

Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote belong to Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, which at its nearest point is only 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.

Spain’s Interior Ministry reported 13,118 arrivals of migrants to the islands this year up to Sept. 30, over double the arrivals during the same period last year.

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