800 migrants die trying to reach Canary Islands this yr

The first eight months of the year saw 785 migrants die trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands, more than double than in the same period of 2020, a UN agency said yesterday.

Among the dead were 177 women and 50 children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced.

The worst month was August when 379 perished trying to cross from northwest Africa to the Atlantic archipelago to enter Europe, the IOM added in a statement.

The total death toll from January to August is already the highest since records began in 2014, even for a full year.

In 2020, 320 migrant deaths were registered on the route from Africa to the Canaries.

Frank Laczko, director of the IOM's global migration data analysis centre, said the figures were almost certainly beneath the real total.