More than 230 migrants rescued off Spain's Canary Islands

Against the backdrop of increasing anti-migration sentiment across Europe, Spain's coastguard conducted a rescue operation off the Canary Islands on Sunday, saving 231 migrants, including 14 women and three children, who had crammed into a dangerously overcrowded boat.

The incident was the largest rescue from a single boat off the island of Gran Canaria this year, Spanish coastguards told Reuters.

After coastguards had discovered the migrants close to Gran Canaria's main port, they towed the wooden boat to safety.

According to government figures, 32,878 migrants have taken the treacherous boat route from West Africa to the Canary Islands between January and Oct 15, a rise of 39.7 percent from the same period last year.

In recent years, irregular migration via the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands has increased more rapidly than any other. However, the number of migrants using the route still remains lower than those crossing the Central Mediterranean to reach Italy.

A separate report indicated that 55 migrants were intercepted on Sunday off the Balearic Islands, the Spanish archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, including a group of 20 people of North African origin in apparent good health whose boat was stopped near the Punta Roja area of Formentera.

Amid growing popular support for conservative and far-right parties seeking tougher controls, the mood among European Union member states has turned increasingly hostile toward migration, Reuters reported.

However, earlier this month, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced measures to make it easier for immigrants to settle in Spain, supporting migration and its economic benefits.

To stop undocumented migrants, Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary have reintroduced temporary border controls, and France is considering similar moves, while Italy aims to set up detention camps in non-EU Albania for migrants picked up at sea.

"(Immigration is) not just a question of humanitarianism ... it's also necessary for the prosperity of our economy and the sustainability of the welfare state," Sanchez said in a speech to parliament. "The key is in managing it well."

As Italy faces legal challenges to its controversial plan to process asylum seekers in Albania, illustrated by the recent return to Italy of 12 migrants following a Rome court ruling, France is conducting a significant trial of 33 alleged members of a Kurdish smuggling gang, accused of organizing most of the migrant crossings across the English Channel between 2020 and 2022, as part of efforts to dismantle criminal networks behind these risky journeys.

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com