Migrants rescued off Spain's Balearic Islands, ending search for missing boats

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MADRID/BARCELONA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Spanish authorities rescued 41 migrants from two boats off the Balearic Islands on Friday, bringing to an end a search for three vessels that had been reported missing on the dangerous route between Algeria and the Mediterranean archipelago.

Migrant rights group Walking Borders warned on Thursday that three boats carrying a total of 81 people, including 10 women and two babies, had lost contact after setting out from Algeria toward Europe.

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The Algerian navy intercepted two of the three on Thursday. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board those vessels.

The third missing boat was located early Friday afternoon off the coast of Mallorca, and all passengers were rescued, the government’s representative in the region said.

Shortly after, authorities also found a fourth boat south of Ibiza that had not been previously reported missing. Its passengers were also rescued. The two boats found Friday were carrying a combined 41 migrants.

The route was one of the fastest-growing migratory passages into the EU last year, even as overall arrivals to the bloc fell.

At least 483 migrants died or disappeared last year in the Western Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The European Union border agency Frontex said last year smugglers were switching their operations to Algeria from Morocco over what were perceived to be less stringent controls and were using faster boats.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last year agreed to work with Spain on improving deportation of irregular Algerian migrants and fighting smugglers.

Irregular migrant arrivals by sea to the Balearic Islands fell 25% between January and February 15 compared with the same period last year, data from Spain’s Interior Ministry showed.

Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Reuters last month that Madrid may request more Frontex air surveillance along the Algeria-to-Balearics route.

But he ruled out deploying Spanish police or handing equipment to Algeria, with which Spain has had a strained relationship in recent years, to combat smuggling of migrants, and said the focus would be on deepening the exchange of security information.

Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Joan Faus, Paolo Laudani and Ana Cantero; Editing by David Latona, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Lisa Shumaker

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