The key facts

  • At least 1,021 migrants were rescued overnight, one died; most were landed on El Hierro
  • In the first five days of November the archipelago received more than 3,200 people, about 2,300 of them on El Hierro
  • Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo called the situation «absolutely unbearable» and requested a meeting with Sanchez

Nighttime landings and the death of one migrant

From Thursday evening to Friday morning the Spanish maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo brought ashore at least 1,021 migrants on El Hierro, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, including one dead. The figures are reported by the EFE agency citing rescuers; the preliminary count did not include several boats whose passenger numbers have not yet been confirmed, and rescuers were preparing to assist two more vessels near El Hierro. Most arrived on El Hierro — an island with a population of about 11,500, where health services are operating under strain.

Protests on El Hierro

Dozens of residents gathered in the port village of La Restinga, where rescued people are brought, to express their discontent with the burden on the island and, in their words, the authorities' inaction. «We are here because everyone is turning away,» one protester told the local broadcaster RTVC, adding: «I want to make it clear: we are not racists. The racists are those in power who do nothing while knowing that people are arriving in dire conditions.» Others complained that local fishermen could not leave the port or return from their work.

The authorities' response and statistics

President of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo called the situation «absolutely unbearable,» warned that all signs point to it getting worse, and requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. He reported that El Hierro's health services are overloaded and called on the central government to provide additional resources, closer coordination and greater involvement from Europe. According to EFE's count, in the first five days of November the archipelago received more than 3,200 migrants, of whom about 2,300 arrived on El Hierro, including 307 minors and 11 infants; most had set sail from Senegal. Meanwhile, according to the interior ministry, 6,191 people arrived by sea in October — almost five times more than a year earlier — but the cumulative figure from January 1 to October 31 (13,327) is slightly below the level of the same period in 2025 and far below the 34,087 recorded in 2024 and 30,425 in 2023. Thus, the current surge is changing the picture against the backdrop of lower annual figures, and its main burden is concentrated on the smallest and least equipped of the islands.