More migrant deaths as Europe tightens border controls

Until recently, the most important entry points from Africa into the European Union (EU) were the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of Morocco, a few miles across the sea from mainland Spain. Tightened security controls have now forced people to use more-dangerous routes originating further south. As a result, the main source of migrants leaving the African continent has moved to Senegal. This poverty-stricken country is crowded with thousands of people originating from across north and central Africa and even as far as south Asia, hoping for a life free from poverty and war.

Consequently, there is an ongoing crisis of bodies being washed up on beaches across the Mediterranean shore, stretching all the way from Spain in the west to Italy and Greece in the east. Many have died because they are forced to cross in overcrowded fishing vessels such as the small open craft with only two small outboard motors known as cayucos, suffering exposure, hunger and dehydration or becoming lost in bad weather.

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