Spain say over 1,000 migrants have arrived in Canary Islands in three days

Over the weekend, more than 1,000 migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands in Spain, officials have said. 7,270 migrants crossed the waters in January.

Spanish officials say the islands have seen a surge in migrant crossings in 2024, with January figures matching the first six months of 2023. It's thought a large number of boats are arriving from Mauritania.

Over the last three days, 18 boats carried 1,000 people onto the islands, with Spain's marine rescue service saying that they found one body in one of the boats.

With most of the boats coming from Mauritania, Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will visit the country on Thursday to discuss how to curb migration.

Spain and the EU have an agreement with Mauritania that they hoped would see the number of migrants coming from the country reduced. However, that's not been the case.

Thousands of other migrants have come from other African countries, with the Red Cross saying that some people flee West Africa because of extreme poverty, lack of job opportunities, violent conflict, and climate change.