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More illegals expected in Spain
08/11/2006 22:19 - (SA)
Tenerife - Spanish authorities are bracing for a possible new wave of illegal African immigrants to hit the Canary Islands, after the European border agency Frontex spotted 10 new crafts off the Spanish shores in recent days.
After witnessing a sharp drop in illegals arriving to the islands recently - just 1 293 in October compared to a staggering 7 535 in September - "vigilance has dropped", said a local rescue official.
A craft carrying 41 Africans arrived on the shores of Tenerife overnight on Tuesday, followed by the spotting on Wednesday of another boatload of 50 immigrants offshore.
Meanwhile, Frontex has detected another 10 crafts apparently bound for Spanish shores, the official said.
The European agency has been tasked with driving back the boats once they leave African territorial waters, "but at night the helicopters have a hard time locating them because they navigate with no lights aboard", said the official.
Number triples previous records
A record number of 28 000 illegal immigrants flooded the Canaries between January and September, in hope of reaching mainland Europe.
The number was triple the previous record of 9 900 illegal arrivals registered in 2002.
Authorities attribute the recent slowdown in arrivals to several factors.
Among them are Frontex surveillance, bad conditions for navigation, the Muslim Ramadan month of fasting, and the deterrent effect of airline repatriations of more than 4 400 illegal Senegalese immigrants between late September and late October.
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