Spain repatriated to Senegal several hundred would-be migrants on Sunday as part of a joint effort to stem the tide of illegal job seekers trying to reach Europe from Africa. The latest batch of Senegalese migrants to be sent home were flown from the Spanish Canary Islands to Saint-Louis, 320 km (200 miles) north of Senegal's capital Dakar. "Three flights have arrived from Tenerife with a total of 213 people on board. Three more flights are expected this afternoon with about the same number of people," an airport official in Saint-Louis told Reuters. Spain, on the front line of Europe's efforts to keep out a flood of clandestine African migrants, sent home more than 4,000 Senegalese last year. These were among more than 31,000 Africans who landed in the Canaries in 2006 after perilous sea journeys of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles) packed into open wooden fishing boats. Spanish officials estimate almost one in six illegal migrants die in the attempt to reach the islands.
