Guinea-Bissau intercepts 55 migrants: The interior ministry told the local media that Guinea-Bissau’s coast guard had stopped 55 migrants from West Africa on Sunday as they attempted to cross the dangerous Atlantic to Spain.
Many African migrants who want to travel to Europe through the Spanish Canary Islands have traditionally used Guinea-Bissau’s 200-kilometer (124-mile) coastline as a starting point.
Recently, thousands have perished throughout the voyage on crowded and frequently antiquated ships.
The group had 14 women and 41 men, including a youngster who was about 10 years old, from Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Guinea, according to Jose Becuque, the head of the coast guard patrol that stopped their canoe.
The coast guard patrol captured them near an island in the Cacheu region of western Guinea-Bissau, near the Senegalese border.
“We shall make an effort to locate the trip’s organisers. We will most likely have the opportunity to identify these offenders,” Becuque stated over the phone.
On their approach to Europe, migrants frequently pass via the Bijagos or Bissagos archipelago, which consists of about 88 islands, many of which are abandoned, strewn along the Atlantic coast.
According to Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, approximately 10,500 migrants perished or disappeared at sea in 2024.
After a record 46,843 migrants arrived in the Canaries in 2024, arrivals have reduced.
The Spanish interior ministry reports that 10,882 people came between January and mid-May, a 34 percent decrease from the same period last year.
