World

El Hierro Declares Emergency After 3,300 Migrants Arrive Since November

By Al Jazeera Staff

El Hierro, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, has declared an emergency and requested assistance from the Madrid government after more than 3,300 people arrived on the island in about 30 boats since the beginning of November. Alpidio Armas, head of the governing council for El Hierro, said on Spanish television that the sharp increase in arrivals had prompted the emergency declaration to establish cooperation with higher‑level institutions. The island, which has a population of about 11,400, is seeking temporary accommodation for the new arrivals and has reported that conditions at its hospital have become undesirable. Fernando Clavijo, the regional leader of the Canary Islands, described the situation as “absolutely unsustainable.” In the first six days of November, maritime rescue services rescued 3,261 migrants and refugees off the coast of the Canary Islands, numbers that Clavijo said were approaching the record levels seen in 2024 and, on some days, even higher. Buses have been diverted to migration operations and medical staff have been brought in from other islands. The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the world’s deadliest migration crossings. Two people were found dead on a boat heading for the Canaries this week, and five others are believed to have died during the voyage, according to survivor accounts cited by AFP. At least nine migrants or refugees have died off the islands in recent weeks. Arrivals reached a record of more than 46,000 in 2024, then fell sharply due to tighter surveillance and greater cooperation with countries of origin and transit. Between January and October, 13,327 irregular migrants and refugees arrived by sea, 5.5 percent fewer than in the same period last year, according to Spain’s Ministry of the Interior. Patrols off Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco have pushed departures further south, from The Gambia, Guinea‑Bissau and Guinea, making crossings longer. Senegalese police said on Saturday that they intercepted 142 migrants, including women and young children, off Dakar.