The Atlantic route is especially dangerous as the ocean’s rough weather can easily capsize the fragile rafts, pirogues and dinghies used by most migrants.
Between January and October, the Canaries registered the fastest increase in arrivals by sea in the EU, even as illegal migrant arrivals in the bloc reduced overall, Frontex data showed.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Emma Pinedo and Joan Faus; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne),