One in six migrants dies trying to reach Canaries

MADRID, Dec 28 (Reuters) Tens of thousands of Africans tried to reach the Canary Islands this year packed into wooden fishing boats and almost one in six died in the attempt, Spanish officials said.

Fleeing poverty, the migrants risk sea voyages of up to 2,000 km from Mauritania and Senegal in the hope of finding jobs in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

This year, about 6,000 died en route to the Spanish archipelago while 31,404 reached the islands successfully, more than six times as many as last year, the officials said yesterday.

About 600 bodies have been picked up on the shores of the African mainland and the Canaries this year but the total of migrants killed is about 10 times that, said Froilan Rodriguez, Canary Islands vice-director of immigration.

''We're talking about a dramatic number of dead,'' Rodriguez told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.

Tighter security on Morocco's borders has encouraged migrants to risk a sea journey that is quicker, cheaper and less arduous than overland routes to north Africa used previously.

People smugglers are using bigger boats carrying up to 100 people and almost as many Africans landed on the Canaries this year as in the previous four years combined, Jose Segura, a government representative on the islands, told Cadena Ser.

In 2005, 4,751 migrants reached the Canaries.

Migrant numbers have risen despite European Union sea and air patrols off the coast of West Africa.

About 20,000 migrants have been transferred to mainland Spain this year from the islands, Segura said.

Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party blames a rise in violent crime on immigrants and polls show Spaniards regard immigration as one of their biggest worries.

Spanish authorities have 40 days to identify and repatriate illegal migrants or release them if the deadline is not met.

Thousands end up homeless on the streets of Spain, Europe's biggest migrant destination.

Reuters SBA VP0432