Spanish authorities say they have recovered 15 bodies of migrants who were attempting to reach Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. Even more are believed to have died en route, although in many cases their bodies have not been found.
On March 21, Spanish security forces confirmed that they had recovered 15 dead bodies off the coast of the Balearic Islands since January. The island group includes Ibiza, Mallorca, Minorca and Formentera, and is part of the so-called Western Mediterranean route from North Africa towards Spain.
Spanish government officials told the Spanish news agency EFE that at least four of the bodies were believed to be people of sub-Saharan origin and another three were described as being of North African origin. At least three of the recovered bodies belonged to women. The body of a man was found wearing an orange life jacket and carrying no identification. On Saturday (March 22), a foot was found on another beach in the Balearic capital, reported EFE.
Some of the bodies were reported to have been in an "advanced state of decomposition, in some cases just a few bones."
Investigative sources "believe these remains may belong to the migrants, whose disappearance they learned about thanks to reports from family and friends on social media," according to EFE.
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Missing migrants
The migrants are believed to have been on board two migrant boats that set off from Algeria in February, according to relatives who reported them missing.
Data gathered by the UN Migration Agency IOM’s Missing Migrant Project suggests that 22 people believed to be of Somalian origin were reported missing in an unknown location in the Mediterranean after departing from Oran in Algeria and hoping to reach the Balearic Islands -- 18 males and four females.
There were two other incidents reported on the Missing Migrants website, much closer to the Algerian coast, that occurred at the end of January and the beginning of February, which resulted in 20 people and 29 people from Algeria being recorded as missing.
On February 23, another boat went down off the coast of Ibiza. On this boat, 19 people survived, but at least five people, including one woman, three men and a minor, were recorded as missing. These people are also believed to have come originally from Somalia, and to have set off from Ain Taya in Algeria on February 17.
EFE reports that the bodies of the five missing people, four men and one women, were found in subsequent days. The second boat, reports EFE, "left the Algerian city of Bourmerdès on February 20 with 18 Somali men and four women." The whereabouts of that boat and what happened to it have still not been established.
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Increase in attempts to reach the Balearics
Since the beginning of the year, the Missing Migrants project has recorded 96 people as dead or missing on the Western Mediterranean route, but this is not just around the Balearic islands, but anyone making their way towards Spain from North Africa, including into the Spanish enclaves Ceuta and Melilla, as well as routes towards mainland Spain.
In the same period last year, from the beginning of January to March 25, more people overall were recorded as dead and missing on the Western Mediterranean route, but the majority of incidents last year appeared to happen nearer the coasts of Morocco or Algeria, or on the mainland Spanish coast. A few occurred later in the year, a bit nearer the Balearic islands, one on October 11, 2024, in which 11 people were recorded as missing east of Palma, Mallorca.
A few other incidents occurred in June and July 2024, one on July 12 when 16 people went missing in a so-called "invisible shipwreck," according to Missing Migrants. The migrants on board this boat were believed to have come originally from sub-Saharan African countries and had departed Algeria, en route to the Balearic Islands, no survivors were found.
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Arrivals on the Balearics
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, from the beginning of the year to March 16, 818 migrants have arrived on the Balearic Islands, around double the number of arrivals recorded in the Murcia region of mainland Spain. In southern mainland Spain in the Andalusia region, 597 arrivals have been recorded so far and 453 in Ceuta, suggesting that the Balearic route might be experiencing an increase in the number of people attempting to arrive there.
The route towards the Balearic Islands already experienced an increase in 2024. According to the local Voz de Ibiza newspaper, 5,924 migrants arrived on the islands throughout the whole of 2024, representing a 160 percent increase on the previous year. In the first two months of 2025, there was a 162 percent increase in the number of arrivals compared to the same period last year, reported EFE.
Spanish authorities are continuing to search for missing persons after receiving a number of reports and notifications from family members and friends on social media about boatloads of people who have potentially gone missing on their way to the Balearics.