![Migrants storm a barbed-wire fence as they attempt to cross the land border with Spain's African enclave of Ceuta near Fnideq in northern Morocco on September 15, 2024. [AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2171579075.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Morocco announced on Tuesday that it rescued 38 irregular migrants in the Atlantic Ocean off the kingdom’s coast, including a woman and a child. The announcement was made by the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces and published by the official Moroccan News Agency.
“Morocco’s Royal Navy intercepted on Tuesday 170km south-west off Dakhla, a pirogue [small boat] carrying 38 sub-Saharan would-be migrants, including one woman and a child,” said the navy. “The pirogue set sail from Mauritania on 14 October heading for the Canary Islands.”
The navy noted that the migrants who were rescued were taken safely to the port of Dakhla, then handed over to the Royal Gendarmerie for the usual administrative procedures after receiving necessary health checks and care.
The Interior Ministry in Rabat announced on 23 January that 75,184 irregular migrants were thwarted during 2023, an increase of six per cent compared with 2022. “More than 419 human trafficking networks were dismantled during the past year [2023],” said the ministry at the time, “an increase of 44 per cent compared with 2022.”
African citizens from sub-Saharan countries are increasingly attempting to migrate to Europe in search of a better life, amid the wars, security instability and deteriorating economic conditions in their countries.