Madrid, AUG 18, SPA -- The Canary Islands have asked the Madrid governmentfor emergency staff to help manage the crisis caused by the constantstream of boat refugees arriving from Africa, DPA QUOTED press reports AS SAYINGFriday. "We find ourselves in an emergency situation," Canaries PresidentAdan Martin said. On Thursday, 344 African refugees arrived on the islands. On oneof the six boats, two refugees had died on the journey from the westcoast of Africa. The head of government in the autonomous Spanish region said theisland's resources were being overstretched by the arrival of theillegal immigrants. "Every day we experience that the record number of arrivals fromthe previous day is being exceeded. We cannot go on like this," hesaid. Since the beginning of the year, 16,600 illegal immigrants havearrived in the Canary Islands, three times as many as for the entireyear of 2005. Since the beginning of August, 3,300 refugees have arrived.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/383511