More than 1,600 migrants reach the Canary Islands over the weekend through Atlantic route

More than 1,600 migrants were rescued at sea or reached the Canary Islands over the weekend via the Atlantic route, emergency services told the Associated Press on Sunday.

Rescuers near the island of El Hierro recovered the body of one person who died while trying to reach the Spanish archipelago. Another migrant was airlifted by a helicopter to a hospital, the same source added.

Reaching the Canary Islands via Morocco has become an important route in 2020 for migrants. Since the beginning of 2020, 11,000 migrants reached the Canary Islands through the Atlantic route, one of the deadliest paths. Indeed, the UN refugee agency reported that the route had more than «600 confirmed dead of missing people».

Numbers show that migrant arrivals in 2020 remain the highest in the last 10 years in the Canary Island and lower than what was recorded in 2006.