Late on Sunday night (May 10), a small wooden boat with 125 people on board was spotted floating off the tiny island of El Hierro, on the western edge of the Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, according to a post on the Spanish rescue service Salvamento Maritimo's X page.

The boat is reported to have been carrying 116 males, three females, and six minors. The maritime rescue vessel Salvamar Diphda was deployed and towed the cayuco, which had suffered engine problems, into port. All passengers disembarked safely in La Restinga and are reported to be in good condition.

Earlier that day, a "precarious and overcrowded" boat, known locally as a cayuco, was brought into port on the Spanish island of Tenerife by the Spanish rescue authorities Salvamento Maritimo.

The vessel had been spotted by a sailing ship around 3.7 kilometers off the beach of Las Galletas, Tenerife, reported the Spanish news agency EFE.

Two ships from Salvamento Maritimo went to the boat’s aid and guided it into the island’s port of Los Cristianos, in the south of the territory. The migrants on board are reported to have left Gambia at least a week ago. When spotted, its engine still appeared to be working, and it was traveling at a good speed.

According to a picture and video post by Salvamento Maritimo on the social media platform X, the boat was carrying 116 men, three women and six minors from sub-Saharan African countries. Once disembarked, all those on board were pronounced to be in an "apparent good condition."

Surveillance aircraft spots a partially submerged vessel

Shortly afterwards, on Sunday, aircraft surveillance spotted a semi-submerged inflatable craft off Lanzarote with 55 migrants on board. A fast-response boat reached the scene in the early afternoon and transferred this group to the port of Arrecife on Lanzarote for medical checks.

According to statements by maritime officials, one of the floatation tubes on the boat had deflated and none of the migrants were wearing life jackets, reported the regional Spanish news portal Canarias Ahora.

A picture posted on Salvamento Maritimo’s X page showed the migrants sitting on board the half-submerged craft. A couple of the migrants at the front of the boat are raising their hands towards the aircraft that first spotted them and took their picture. The feet of the migrants sitting on the deflated tube on the left-hand side of the boat have their feet in the water. The sea at the point where the picture was taken looks calm. Rescue services said that no people were in the water at the time they arrived and that the occupants of the boat remained calm and despite the deflation, the boat remained "stable."

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Canary Islands arrivals

On Saturday, Spanish rescue services also confirmed the arrival of a group of 62 migrants on the island of Gran Canaria and 61 on the island of Lanzarote.

According to UNHCR data, which was last updated for Spain at the end of April, a total of 7,923 migrants have arrived on Spanish territory via several different routes since the beginning of the year. More than 2,276 migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands via the Atlantic route from the coast of western Africa.

In 2025, throughout the whole year, 17,788 migrants arrived via the Atlantic route on the Canary Islands archipelago. The year before, 46,843 people arrived on the same route.

Over the last couple of years, Spain and the EU have signed and strengthened a number of bilateral development agreements with countries of departure and origin in western Africa, including Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco. This has resulted in money and training coming from the EU towards those countries, on the understanding that patrols and controls along the coasts are stepped up.

Although the number of migrants attempting the Atlantic route towards Spain has dropped significantly, other routes, like the land route from Morocco towards the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, appear to be experiencing increases this year.

According to Spanish government data, recently published in the local newspaper El Faro de Ceuta, 2,101 migrants entered Ceuta between January 1 and April 30 this year, representing a 300 percent increase compared to the same timeframe last year.

That said, overall entries recorded on all routes to Spain also declined this year compared to the same period last year. In the first four months of the year, arrivals in Spain were down by 43.2 percent compared to the equivalent period in 2025.

With EFE

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