Europe has sprung a leak....

North Africans are getting into Europe through Spain via the Canary Islands...

Spain has issued its most urgent international appeal for help in coping with illegal immigrants flooding into the Canary Islands.

Madrid announced it will dispatch diplomats to several countries in western Africa, where the migrants come from, while a European parliament delegation will arrive next month to assess a problem that the Spaniards say is not just theirs but Europe's.

The calmer seas of early summer have seen a sharp rise in the numbers reaching the holiday islands, which are the closest European land to the west African coast. More than 1,400 arrived in Tenerife and Gran Canaria in the past week, while 2,000 have landed this month, mostly from Senegal and Mali, compared with 4,751 in the whole of last year.

And, here is why this is dangerous:

The immigrants look to exploit Spain's liberal immigration laws. Spain can hold them for just 40 days and can repatriate them only if it identifies their home country and has an extradition agreement with it. They are then free to travel to mainland Spain or take their chances in any other European country.