SW News: At least 300 people are missing after boats carrying illegal migrants disappeared while trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands. According to the migrant relief organization Walking Borders, three boats were heading from Senegal to the Canary Islands.

Two boats, one with about 65 people on board and the other with between 50 and 60 passengers, have been missing for 15 days after leaving Senegal in an attempt to reach Spain, according to a representative for the group. On June 27, a third boat with around 200 individuals departed Senegal. Since they left, the relatives of those on board have not heard from them.

Helena Maleno, the spokesperson for Walking Boards, said, "The families are very worried. There are about 300 people from the same area of Senegal. They have left because of the instability in Senegal."

All three boats left Kafountine in the south of Senegal, about 1,700 kilometers from Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. While irregular migration from Africa's coasts to the Canary Islands has been one of the most used routes in recent years, it has been observed that the flow is higher, especially in summer. The Atlantic migration route, one of the deadliest in the world, is typically used by migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

At least 559 irregular migrants died while trying to reach the Canary Islands in 2022, including 22 children, according to data from the United Nations International Organization for Migration. However, Walking Borders said that the number of irregular migrants who died on the route last year was 1,784.

Meanwhile, the news of boats missing comes weeks after Europe saw one of its worst Mediterranean migrant shipwrecks when an overcrowded trawler sank. At least 79 people have died, and dozens are feared missing after a fishing boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of southern Greece.