El Hierro received 1,261 migrants in seven small boats on Sunday, exceeding 1,000 arrivals for the second day running, whilst the Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced during a visit to the port of La Restinga that Maritime Rescue services would be reinforced and that the Government would discuss new measures on Tuesday.
According to data from health and emergency services compiled by EFE, five of the boats arriving on Sunday, carrying 937 people, disembarked at the port of La Restinga on El Hierro, whilst another two, carrying 324 people, disembarked at La Estaca, the island’s main port, on a day when at least three migrants were taken to hospital.
These seven arrivals bring the total number of small boats to 29 and the number of people who have disembarked in the Canary Islands to 3,684 since Friday, when 843 migrants arrived on eight boats, joined on Saturday by a further 1,580 on fourteen boats.
El Hierro: 96 boats arrive on the island in November
El Hierro has recorded 96 small boats so far this November, compared with the 66 that had arrived during the previous ten months of 2026.
The first arrival on Sunday took place at 2.35 am in La Restinga, where the rescue vessel Menkalinan disembarked 79 people, including five women and three children, from Senegal and The Gambia, who had set off five days earlier from Mboro in Senegal.
At around 11.40 am, the rescue vessel Diphda brought another 244 people, including 30 women and seven children, from The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Conakry to the same port. According to their account, they had been sailing for seven days from Bakau in The Gambia.
At 12.15 pm, the rescue vessel Acrux disembarked 161 people, including 26 women and four children, one of whom was taken to the Nuestra Señora de los Reyes Insular Hospital.
The occupants of this third cayuco, from The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Conakry, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, have reported that they had set off eight days earlier from Brufut, in The Gambia.
The fourth vessel was assisted by the rescue vessel Navia, which arrived at La Restinga at around 1.45 pm with 241 people on board, including 26 women and six children, two people required hospital treatment.
According to their accounts, they had been sailing for eight days from Banjul, in The Gambia, and came from The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry.
At around 2.30 pm, the occupants of two further small boats disembarked at La Estaca: one carrying 61 people, including three women and 15 minors, who were transported by the rescue vessel Polimnia; and another carrying 263 people, for which neither a breakdown of the numbers nor the point of departure is available.
The latest arrival was recorded at 17:18 at La Restinga, where the rescue vessel Diphda disembarked 212 people, including eight women and 18 boys, from Senegal and The Gambia, who had set off from Dakar eight days earlier.
Government plans coastal patrol boat and further relief measures
During his visit to La Restinga, Minister Torres announced that the Canary Islands will receive a third rescue vessel, which is expected to arrive between Monday and Tuesday following a delay caused by weather conditions, and that the Interministerial Commission on Migration will meet on Tuesday to discuss further reinforcements.
The minister has stated that work is being carried out with the Treasury on social and economic measures and has offered to help strengthen healthcare provision, including a field hospital should the need for one be demonstrated, as well as extending the deployment of the Spanish surveillance aircraft in Senegal until December.
For his part, the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has called for the commitments made last Tuesday to be implemented without delay, these include 15.18 million euros for accommodation and transport, and a further million for the Red Cross, and has requested more staff, healthcare support and swift referrals.
The Island Council relocates around 900 migrants from El Hierro
The president of the El Hierro Island Council, Alpidio Armas, has announced that around 900 of the 1,606 migrants remaining in reception centres were due to be transferred off the island this Sunday, and that the transfers would continue on Monday.
Armas has also warned of the difficulties involved in removing the cayucos that have accumulated at La Restinga due to a breakdown of the crane used to lift them out of the water.
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