Photo credit, EPA
Groups of migrants continue to attempt the dangerous Atlantic crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands (Spain), a route on which thousands have lost their lives in recent years.
And a small island with barely more than 30 hospital beds is asking for reinforcements to cope with these arrivals.
Over the past five weeks, El Hierro has received 8,000 migrants, increasing pressure on health and reception services.
The president of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, told Reuters that the situation on the island territory of around 11,400 inhabitants was “absolutely untenable”.
Authorities declared a state of emergency and requested more human and material resources from the central government.
“El Hierro is a small island that understands what migration is. We are very united,” Alpidio Armas, president of the island’s governing council, told BBC Mundo.
“In the 50s and 60s we had to leave for Venezuela. And we did it from the same port of La Restinga where the cayucos and pateras arrive today,” he adds.
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What is happening
Since the beginning of November alone, more than 3,300 people have arrived on the island aboard around thirty boats, according to local authorities.
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This represents almost a third of the population of the island, one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants from West Africa.
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If so many boats arrive at this place, it is because of sea currents, but also the desire to escape the coast guards of Gambia, Senegal, Guinea and Mauritania.
“If a cayuco heads straight for the Atlantic, then makes a right-angle turn when it reaches imaginary 'highways' at sea, the boat will head straight towards the port of La Restinga, in El Hierro,” explains Alpidio Armas.
“It's an easy route that they take to escape the controls and the patrols of all these countries. »
In recent days, a crane breakdown has also led to an accumulation, on the quay of La Restinga, a town of 673 inhabitants, of empty cayucos and pateras which had managed to dock.
These are solid wooden boats measuring between 20 and 24 meters long and weighing between 18 and 25 tonnes. Clearing the dock is now one of the priorities.
“We have never been against migration. We are simply asking that consideration be given to the fact that with so many makeshift boats in the water, vessels have difficulty leaving and entering the quay to go fishing,” the president of the La Restinga residents' association, Loly Hernández, explained to Europa Press.
Photo credit, Reuters
Lack of space
La Restinga's economy is mainly based on fishing, diving and tourism.
Authorities are seeking temporary accommodation for the new arrivals, while conditions at the island's hospital have become "undesirable", as Mr Armas explained on Spanish television.
“Every year, in October and November, we face the same situation. And so far we have always been able to transfer migrants to Tenerife, which is the largest island. But its centers are full of people who arrived in makeshift boats or those who have not been transferred to the peninsula,” Mr. Armas explains to BBC Mundo.
“There is no more space and this is what has led El Hierro to find itself in a critical situation now. We are overwhelmed,” he explains.
Armas adds that, despite this situation, “pateras” continue to arrive every day.
This wave of migrants is approaching record levels recorded in 2024, underlined the president of the Canaries, who added that, on certain days, the current rate is even higher.
This increase in traffic on this route can be explained by the state of the currents and weather conditions. During the autumn months the sea is calmer and the conditions are more favourable.
However, the danger persists.
A small boat carrying migrants capsized this weekend off the northwest coast of Senegal, killing at least 35 people and only one survivor.
From Senegal, the estimated distance on the open sea is between 1,000 km and 2,000 km, depending on the starting point.
This is about 10 times the distance of other migration routes that cross the Mediterranean.
Lack of job opportunities, family pressures and the existence of well-established migration networks are some of the factors pushing people to leave Senegal, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
For many young people, the prospect of finding a job and earning more abroad remains a powerful motivation, despite the risks associated with crossing the Atlantic on overcrowded boats.
Nearly one in four young people in Senegal were unemployed during the second quarter of 2026, according to the national statistics agency.
“We want to train them and make them stay”
And, although the island of El Hierro is overwhelmed by the current situation, Armas is calling for financial resources and teachers to train migrants and enable them to integrate there.
“We want them to stay. These are the workers we need. For construction, hotels, agriculture, livestock or fishing, this would be very useful to us,” Armas explains to BBC Mundo.
“But the problem is that there is no way for the Canary Islands government to implement this proposal with us. And they are the ones who have the skills to do this. We want them to leave us professionals for at least two years, so that we can train the migrants and they can stay or leave for other horizons if they prefer. »
During his visit to the Canaries in June 2026, Leo
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