Mediterranean a 'liquid tomb': Over 1,300 migrants died reaching Spain in early 2026

The Mediterranean Sea has become a "liquid tomb" for over 1,300 migrants who perished trying to reach Spain's shores in the first five months of 2026. The grim statistic comes from Caminando Fronteras, a migrant advocacy organization that monitors perilous journeys from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean and the western Mediterranean.

The organization released its report shortly before Pope Leo's visit to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago experiencing a dramatic surge in irregular migration over the past decade. The report details that 1,317 individuals, including 142 women and 129 children, lost their lives. The count includes 27 boats that disappeared without a trace.

During his visit to Spain, Pope Leo XIV focused on the treatment of migrants, describing their suffering as a "challenge to the moral foundation of the international order." His statement arrives as the migration issue remains a central focus of the European agenda.

Human rights organizations point to migrants increasingly choosing longer and more dangerous routes across the Atlantic to evade detection. Enhanced deterrence operations in areas like Mauritania have pushed many to seek riskier paths to Europe. The shortest distance between the Canary Islands and the West African coast is about 100 kilometers, while the sea crossing from Morocco to Spain is approximately 20 kilometers wide.

These figures underscore the persistent danger of these journeys. In 2025, the same organization reported that 3,090 people died or went missing attempting to reach Spanish coasts, indicating the ongoing severity of the crisis.