gran canaria spain hamido had heard nothing from his wife and child in 10 days since they set sail from western sahara for the canary islands but then a boat was found with many dead onboard frantic and distraught hamido an ivorian national working in france tried to contact the spanish police and the authorities in gran canaria for news of his family but no one could help him so he flew to the island where he learned via the media that his wife had died on the boat and his sixyearold daughter who had watched her die was completely traumatised this man contacted us he was absolutely desperate because no one would give him any information said helena maleno of caminando fronteras a spanish ngo that helps migrant boats in distress and families searching for loved ones for worried relatives trying to find information about people lost on the notoriously dangerous route to the spanish atlantic archipelago can be a nightmare in the past two years the number of dead and missing on the atlantic route has increased nearly fivefold from 202 in 2019 to 937 so far this year according to the international organization for migrations missing migrants project mmp deadliest year since 1997 in fact 2021 has been a particularly deadly year for migrants trying to reach spain via either the atlantic or the mediterranean the data show that 2021 seems to be the deadliest year on record since 1997 surpassing 2020 and 2006 as the two years with the highest recorded deaths said mmps marta sanchez dionis according to figures compiled with spanish human rights organisation apdha 10236 people died between 1997 and 2021 but both organisations concede that the real number could be much higher caminando fronteras which tracks data from boats in distress including the number of people on board calculates that 2087 people died or went missing in the atlantic in the first half of 2021 compared with 2170 for the whole of 2020 it was in late 2019 that the number of migrant arrivals in the canaries began to rise after increased patrols along europes southern coast reduced mediterranean crossings but the numbers really took off in mid2020 as the pandemic took hold and so far this year 20148 have reached the archipelago mmp figures show the atlantic route is extremely hazardous for the small overloaded boats battling strong currents with mmp saying the vast majority of departures were from distant ports in western sahara mauritania or even senegal some 1500 kilometres 900 miles to the south boats become coffins the migrants hope that the boats will carry them to a new life in europe but for many the vessels end up becoming their coffins i knew getting the boat was no good but there was war in mali and things were very difficult says mamadou who left nouadibou in mauritania on a boat with 58 people in august 2020 after three days at sea