
Local
The pandemic and a route change slash migrant boat arrivals on the Costa del Sol
MATÍAS STUBER
The number of illegal migrants arriving on the Malaga coastline in 2020 has dropped by more than half when compared to those who were intercepted or landed in 2019, the year before the outbreak of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Compared to ... the 79 boats discovered in 2019, 49 were registered in 2020. As a direct result, the number of migrants arriving via the Alboran Sea has decreased, from 2,150 in 2019 to 941 in 2020 - some 56.3 per cent fewer. During the first wave of the pandemic, ... in the routes used to reach European soil. According to Quirante, the tightening of controls by the Moroccan authorities on the route through the Alboran Sea, which is the one that leads to Malaga, has caused the gangs that try to smuggle migrants