A total of 52 boats, more than 1,400 occupants and seven deaths. That is the balance of immigration so far this year in Lanzarote, figures that already exceed those recorded in all of 2020, since then 891 immigrants arrived on the island aboard 40 boats. In addition, it is the highest immigration figure since 2014, according to statistics published in the Data Center of the Cabildo. However, last year there were nine deaths recorded.
Specifically, from January to August of this 2021, 1,393 immigrants arrived in Lanzarote in 51 boats. Of these, 1,086 were adult men, 101 adult women, and 199 declared themselves to be minors upon arrival, of which 194 were men and five were women.
To these boats is added the one that has been rescued by Maritime Rescue this Wednesday, September 1 in the waters of the island with 34 occupants, one minor among them. Thus, there are already 52 boats that have arrived in Lanzarote with a total of 1,427 immigrants so far this year.
Seven deaths in two shipwrecks
August has so far been the month of the year in which the island has received the most boats, with a total of 12. In them arrived 387 people, of which 341 were adult men, 21 women, and 22 declared themselves to be minors at the time of their arrival, all of them men.
Eight of these boats arrived in Lanzarote in the last week of the month and one of them also left three dead, three women whose lifeless bodies were rescued at sea after the boat in which they were traveling shipwrecked when it was near Arrecife. In addition, it should be remembered that, according to the testimony of the 28 immigrants who were rescued alive from said boat, there were another eight missing people who were not located.
The other four deaths were counted in the month of June, after a boat capsized off the coast of Órzola. At that time, 41 immigrants were rescued alive who, initially, said that there were 49 people on the boat. However, it was later pointed out that there could be 46 and finally the hypothesis was considered that there were no more people than those that had already been located, ending the search for more possible missing persons.
By months, in January there were nine boats that arrived on the island with 191 occupants, in February only one arrived with 22 immigrants, in March six did so with a total of 150 occupants and in April another six boats arrived with 147 people. In May there were seven boats that arrived in Lanzarote with a total of 193 occupants, in June six boats arrived with 214 immigrants, in July four boats arrived with 89 people, in August as already mentioned above there were twelve boats that arrived on the island with 387 people on board, and September has already begun with the arrival of a boat.
