Over 4,000 migrants died trying to reach Spain in 2021

Spanish police

Spanish police try to disperse migrants at a border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. PHOTO | AFP

Over 4,000 migrants died or disappeared trying to reach Spain by sea in 2021, twice as many as in the previous year, a migrant rights group said Monday.

Migrant arrivals in Spain's Canary Islands in the Atlantic have increased since late 2019 after increased patrols along Europe's southern coast dramatically reduced crossings to the continent via the Mediterranean.