Credit, EPA
Groups of immigrants continue to attempt to make the dangerous crossing of the Atlantic from West Africa towards the Canary Islands in Spain, a route that has killed thousands of people in recent years.
Meanwhile, a small island, with just over 30 hospital beds, is asking for reinforcements to meet the arrivals of people.
In the last five weeks, El Hierro has received 8,000 immigrants, increasing pressure on health and reception services.
The president of the government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, told the Reuters news agency that the situation in the island territory, which has around 11,400 inhabitants, is "absolutely unsustainable".
Authorities declared a state of emergency and asked the central government for more human and material resources.
"El Hierro is a small island that understands what migration is. We are very supportive," Alpidio Armas, president of the island's governing council, told BBC Mundo.
"In the 1950s and 1960s, it was our turn to leave for Venezuela. And we did so from the same port of La Restinga where immigrant boats arrive today," he added.
What is happening
Since the beginning of November, more than 3,300 people have arrived on the island aboard around 30 boats, local authorities reported.
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The number is equivalent to almost a third of the population of the island, one of the main entry points into Europe for immigrants from West Africa.
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The arrival of so many vessels at this point is due to sea currents, but also to the attempt to avoid the coastal police of Gambia, Senegal, Guinea and Mauritania.
"If a vessel leaves directly towards the Atlantic and then makes a 90-degree turn, it will head directly to the port of La Restinga, in El Hierro", explains Alpidio Armas.
"It's an easy route, chosen to escape the inspection and maritime patrols of all these countries."
In recent days, a crane failure caused the empty boats that managed to reach the island to accumulate at the pier in La Restinga, a town of 673 inhabitants.
They are solid wooden vessels, measuring between 20 and 24 meters long and weighing 18 to 25 tons. Releasing the pier is one of the priorities at the moment.
"We have never been against migration. We ask that you take into account that, with so many vessels at sea, fishing boats have difficulty getting in and out of the pier and carrying out their work," said Loly Hernández, president of the La Restinga Residents' Association, in an interview with Europa Press agency.
Credit, Reuters
Lack of space
La Restinga's economy is mainly based on fishing, diving and tourism.
Authorities are looking for temporary accommodation for the new arrivals, while conditions at the island's hospital have become "undesirable", Armas explained to Spanish television.
"In October and November, we face the same situation every year. Until now, we have always managed to transfer migrants to Tenerife, which is the largest island. But the reception centers there are full, both with people who arrived on boats and with those who were not transferred to mainland Spain," Armas told BBC Mundo, the BBC's Spanish-language service.
"There is no space, and this has caused El Hierro to reach a limit situation. We are in collapse," he said.
Armas added that, despite the situation, boats with immigrants continue to arrive every day.
According to the president of the government of the Canary Islands, this migratory wave is approaching the record levels recorded in 2024. He added that, on some days, the current rate of arrivals is even higher.
Why this island is chosen by so many immigrants
The increase in migratory flow along this route is due to the conditions of sea currents and climate. During the autumn months, the sea tends to be calmer and presents more favorable conditions for navigation.
Still, the danger persists. A small boat carrying migrants sank last weekend off the northwest coast of Senegal, leaving at least 35 people dead and just one survivor.
The open sea distance from Senegal is estimated between 1,000 km and 2,000 km, depending on the starting point.
This represents about ten times the distance of other migratory routes that cross the Mediterranean.
Few job opportunities, family pressures and the existence of already established migration networks are among the factors that lead people to leave Senegal, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
For many young people, the prospect of finding work and earning more money abroad remains a strong incentive, despite the risks involved in crossing the Atlantic on overcrowded vessels.
Nearly one in four young people in Senegal was unemployed in the second quarter of 2026, according to the country's statistics agency.
'We want to empower them to stay'
Although the island of El Hierro is overwhelmed by the current situation, Armas wants financial resources and teachers to train immigrants and allow them to integrate into the local community.
"We want them to stay. They are workers we need. It would be great to have them in construction, hotels, agriculture, livestock or fishing," Armas told BBC Mundo.
"But the problem is that there is no way to get the government of the Canary Islands to put this proposal into practice with us. And it is the regional government that has the competence to do this. We want them to send us professionals for at least two years, so that we can train the immigrants and allow them to stay on the island or move to other regions, if they prefer."
During his visit to the Canary Islands, in June 2026, Pope Leo 14 dedicated a large part of his speeches to welcoming immigrants and refugees and the reality of the Atlantic. At his last mass in Tenerife, boats used by migrants were placed on the pier as a symbolic gesture.
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