MADRID, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Spain has seen a sharp increase in the number of African immigrants crossing the perilous Mediterranean to the country in the first eight months of this year, data from the Interior Ministry showed on Tuesday.
According to the data, a total of 28,620 African immigrants made the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Spain in the period, an increase of 163 percent over the same period of last year.
The immigrants made the crossing in a total of 1,168 dinghies, data showed.
In terms of the landing points, 27,352 of the immigrants crossed to either the Spanish mainland or the Balearic Islands, while 496 made landing on the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa, and 772 arrived at the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta in North Africa.
The data was published after Spanish Maritime Rescue Services confirmed that they rescued a further 600 people from dinghies off the south coast of Spain on Sunday and Monday, although these rescues are not reflected in the data for the first eight months of the year.
It should also be highlighted that the United Nations agency for refugees UNHCR estimates that 318 people either died or disappeared while trying to cross from North Africa to Spain between January and July. This tragic number is almost three times the 113 deaths registered in the same period in 2017.
