Gran Canaria

The Spanish Ministry of Migration announces the plan to urgently create refugee camps with 6,000 places on Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Fuerteventura to accommodate the immigrants who are now spread over 17 tourist complexes.

Minister José Luis Escrivá's plan includes using Gran Canaria as a place where refugees will arrive in the style of Lesbos or Lampedusa. New arrivals are won't be transferred to the mainland but await deportation in a center set up for this purpose.

Trying to reach the Canary Islands by boat has claimed the lives of 21 migrants in less than 48 hours. In addition to the 15 bodies rescued on Wednesday from a cayuco (canoe), six other people travelling in a cayuco with 10 survivors were rescued on Thursday afternoon.

Two of the 11 living migrants were taken in a Civil Guard helicopter to a health centre, in which one of them died. The other nine travelled to the port of Arguineguín (in the south of Gran Canaria).