Adrift

For more than a decade hundreds of thousands of people have left the African continent using different types of boats to reach the Spanish coasts. The main routes have been through the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea, crossing from Morocco to the Iberian Peninsula, or across the Atlantic Ocean to go to the Canary Islands.

In 2018 the migratory flow to Spain of sub-Saharan and Maghrebian population from Morocco has increased with respect to other years. Quite frequently, the people who try to arrive in the Spanish territory are rescued before touching land by the Spain's maritime rescue service.

The number of migrants rescued this year in the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar and Alboran Sea is estimated at 45,000 people. Before crossing any of these two routes they had to cross different countries in Africa, often spending several years to make this trip.

Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco or Mali are some of the places of origin of migrants arriving in Spain along its southern border.

2018

For more than a decade hundreds of thousands of people have left the African continent using different types of boats to reach the Spanish coasts. The main routes have been through the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea, crossing from Morocco to the Iberian Peninsula, or across the Atlantic Ocean to go to the Canary Islands.

In 2018 the migratory flow to Spain of sub-Saharan and Maghrebian population from Morocco has increased with respect to other years. Quite frequently, the people who try to arrive in the Spanish territory are rescued before touching land by the Spain's maritime rescue service.

The number of migrants rescued this year in the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar and Alboran Sea is estimated at 45,000 people. Before crossing any of these two routes they had to cross different countries in Africa, often spending several years to make this trip.

Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco or Mali are some of the places of origin of migrants arriving in Spain along its southern border.

2018
A man wrapped in a Red Cross blanket in the port of Barbate, southern Spain, after being rescued by Spain's maritime rescue service, trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in dinghy with other sub-Saharan migrants on August 7, 2018.
In this photo taken on July 31, 2018, a group of sub-Saharan migrants in front of two Guardia Civil officers on a dock in the port of Algeciras (south of Spain) where they have been living several days waiting to be transferred on buses to the sports centers conditioned for their stay.
A man rests inside a sports center near the city of Algeciras, Spain, where there were approximately 600 people living as a result of the high number of arrivals of migrants across the Strait of Gibraltar in dinghies. August 2, 2018.
Maghreb migrants trying to cross the Alboran Sea in dinghy, April 14th, 2019. This boat was seen by the Aita Mari aid ship of Spanish NGO SMH, about 20 miles south of Almeria, Spain. The Spanish authorities did not allow the NGO to rescue the dinghy. SMH could only follow the migrants until Guardia Civil officers arrived to assist them.
A Guardia Civil officer helps a sub-Saharan woman’s baby to get out of the Maritime Rescue vessel in the port of Barbate, in southern Spain, after being rescued while trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar by dinghy along with more migrants on August 7, 2018.
Volunteers from the Red Cross carry a collapsed migrant on a stretcher after arriving at the port of Barbate in a Spanish Maritime Rescue vessel , Spain, on August 7, 2018.
In this photo taken on August 10, 2018, in the port of Barbate, southern Spain, a man inside a bus that will take him to a temporary center of migrants in Algeciras, there he will be assisted and his possible expulsion order from the country will be processed.
In this photo taken on July 31, 2018, a group of migrants are sitting in one of the docks of the port of Algeciras, Spain, where they have spent several days waiting to be moved to places conditioned for their temporary stay.
Panoramic view of the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain, in the foreground of the photo, and Morocco in the background. The shortest distance between the two coasts is 14 km.
Mohammed Seghor, Sub-Saharan migrant, inside a sports center that was made into a temporary migrant shelter in Algeciras, southern Spain, on August 2, 2018. Mohammed crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco in dinghy along with other people several days ago.