79 Sub Saharan immigrants were rescued

A total of 79 Sub Saharan immigrants were rescued in the Waters off the Canary Islands on Friday evening after being spotted adrift by a coastguard plane. All the travellers were adult males and all are in good health.
They were escorted into the port of Arguineguín on the SE of Gran Canaria after being picked up by the Coastguard vessel ‘Menkalinan’ supported by the naval vessel ‘Vencedora’.
The hospital ship ‘Esperanza del Mar’ docked in Arguineguín, on the South of Gran Canaria, shortly after 2 o’clock on Sunday afternoon, with 117 migrants rescued from a cayuco 200 miles off the island’s southern shore in the early hours of Sunday. They were initially spotted on Saturday, when they were 250 miles off the Canaries coast.
The Canary Islands belong to Spain. Under their liberal immigration rules, migrants can be detained for 40 days. If officials are unable to establish their nationality, they are freed to live in Spain. shortest sea route from the African coast to the Canaries is 60 miles but since Morocco has stepped up patrols, more migrants are forced to take a 500 mile trip from Mauritania.
The journey, in open boats, can take a week. An estimated one in three vessels do not make it, resulting in thousands of deaths each year.
number of illegal immigrants killed while attempting the perilous 2,000km sea crossing from north Africa during 2006 could be as high as 6,000, although only 600 bodies have been recovered.
The number of illegal immigrants arriving in the archipelago has risen to 31,000, six times as many as 2005. "We're talking about a dramatic figure," said deputy Immigration councillor, Froilan Rodriguez, during an interview on Cadena Ser radio.
During 2006, around 20,000 illegal immigrants have been transferred to the Spanish mainland. Once there, the local authorities have a maximum period of 40 days to repatriate those that can be identified, or release onto the streets -with no means of supporting themselves- those whose identities cannot be confirmed.
Meanwhile, according to a report in a December issue of El Pais, the government has given the immediate go-ahead for 180,000 immigrant workers to be contracted in their countries of origin to work in Spain next year, and it is possible that more may be contracted before the start of 2008.