El Hierro in Spain’s Canary Islands pleads for help with migrant influx

BARCELONA - Spanish authorities on one of the Canary Islands declared an emergency on Nov 7 after a surge in migrant boat arrivals, demanding government assistance to cope with the influx.“We are very concerned... by this sharp increase in arrivals,” Alpidio Armas, head of the governing council for the island of El Hierro, told Spanish television.“This is precisely what has led us to declare an emergency, in order to ensure a framework of cooperation with higher-level institutions.”Several thousand migrants have reached the Atlantic archipelago in recent weeks, many of them landing on El Hierro.Since the start of November, more than 3,300 people have arrived on the island aboard around 30 boats, according to local authorities.Officials are seeking temporary accommodation for the new arrivals, while conditions at the island’s hospital have become “undesirable”, Armas said.This period of the year is usually marked by an increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands because of favourable sailing conditions.However, local authorities warned that an approaching storm expected overnight could make the crossing more dangerous for migrants currently at sea.Two dead migrants were found on a boat attempting to reach the Canaries earlier this week, while another five are believed to have died during the voyage, according to survivor accounts.Senegal interceptionAfter reaching a record of more than 46,000 arrivals in 2024, irregular migration to the Canaries fell sharply, largely due to tighter surveillance and increased cooperation with countries of origin and transit.A total of 13,327 irregular migrants arrived in the Canary Islands by sea between Jan 1 and Oct 31, a 5.5% decrease compared with the same period last year, according to interior ministry figures.In Senegal, police said on Nov 7 that they intercepted 142 undocumented migrants, including a number of women and young children, as they tried to reach the Canary Islands on Nov 6.Among those stopped on a boat off the coast of Dakar were 40 Senegalese, 93 Gambians, one national from Guinea-Bissau, two Guineans and two Nigerians.At the end of October, Action for Human Rights and Friendship (ADHA), an NGO, urged Senegal to address the ongoing “dangerous departures” of migrants heading to Europe.Nearly 1,000 West Africans arrived on the Canary Islands on Oct 22 and 23.An increase in patrols off the coast of Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco has pushed migrants to leave from further south, from Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, making the hazardous crossings longer. AFP