April 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Moroccan Armed Forces announced this Wednesday the rescue of 131 migrants, including 27 women and eight minors, off the coast of the city of El Aaiún, in occupied Western Sahara, when they were in two boats supposedly directed towards the Canary Islands.
A Royal Navy patrol has assisted the boats 50 kilometers from the aforementioned city, according to a statement from the Armed Forces published on its account on the social network X, formerly Twitter.
The Moroccan authorities have given basic aid to the migrants, all of them of sub-Saharan origin, before transferring them to El Aaiún to put them at the disposal of the Gendarmerie and carry out the corresponding procedures, as reported by the Moroccan state news agency, MAP.
According to the latest balance sheet from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, as of March 15, a total of 17,529 migrants have arrived irregularly in Spain so far this year, 12,321 more people (that is, 236.6 percent). than in the same period of 2023 (5,208). Of the total number of people who have entered from January to April 15, 14,030 have done so through the Canary Islands.
