Popular route: 20,000 migrants reached Spain in 2018 over the sea

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751 refugees were arrested while they were traveling from North Africa to the Spanish coast. According to the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service, 709 of them had driven in 48 boats across the Strait of Gibraltar, the shortest route between North Africa and Spain. Eleven were found more in the east. Three boats with a total of 31 people on board would have approached the Spanish coast of Alicante

The route between North Africa and Spain has been until now the most popular for refugees in Europe this year. People fleeing violence or poverty attempt the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean, alone or with the help of smugglers. A deployment in Libya made it more difficult to come to Italy. In Spain, more than 20,000 people arrived over the sea in 2018.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,500 people have drowned or disappeared in the Mediterranean. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1,111 people died on the route from the central Mediterranean to Italy and Malta, 304 en route to Spain, 89 in the waters to broad of Greece and Cyprus 89. 2018 According to the United Nations, one of the most deadly years since records began

Total 55,000 people – half over the previous year and a little over one-fifth of those of 2016 – arrived by sea as part of the sea. illegal immigrants since the beginning of the year. Of these, about 21,000 were registered in Spain, 18,130 in Italy and about 240 in Malta. Greek ports received 15,530 migrants, Cyprus just under 110.

The Central Mediterranean route remains by far the most deadly route of passage: 10,000 rescuers have 605 drownings. In contrast, the western route to Spain recorded 145 deaths out of 10,000 rescued; the migrants from Morocco just off the Spanish coast “/>