Spain Overtakes Italy For Migrant Arrivals

There were dramatic scenes on a Spanish beach packed with tourists on Friday when a dinghy crammed with migrants landed in the surf. Its occupants quickly scattered among the holidaymakers with the police in pursuit. It was a busy weekend for the Spanish authorities who managed to rescue nearly 1,000 migrants from the Mediterranean with 200 pulled from 10 boats on Saturday.

Even though Europe has experienced a dramatic decline in migrant arrivals along the Mediterranean coast, more than 1,500 people have died attempting to make the crossing for the fifth year in a row. While the amount of arrivals in Italy has fallen considerably, Spain is experiencing a surge in traffic. Between 1 January and 25 July 2017, 94,448 migrants made their way to Italy and that fell to 18,130 during the same period in 2018, according to the IOM.

Spain only counted 6,513 Mediterranean arrivals in the first seven months of 2017 and that has now climbed steeply to 20,992 between 1 January and 25 July 2018. Libya has clamped down on human traffickers and that has resulted in higher numbers of people attempting to make the crossing from Algeria and Morocco.