Spanish maritime rescue services picked up around 120 people from an overcrowded dinghy off Lanzarote, while another group arrived on their own on the Spanish island in a wooden boat, according to local media. Meanwhile, one person was arrested on the Canaries for piloting a migrant boat.
A group of 122 migrants disembarked from a vessel of the Spanish sea rescue services in the port of Noas on Lanzarote early on Wednesday (July 8), after they had been rescued from an inflatable boat in the Atlantic on Tuesday night, stated reports by Spanish news agency EFE. Among the group were 12 minors and nine women, according to EFE. Some in the group were reported to be in poor health, suffering from symptoms including dehydration. The group had reportedly set off from Tan Tan in Morocco, located roughly 200 kilometers from Lanzarote in the Atlantic.
Another dinghy with a similar number of passengers was reportedly stopped by the Moroccan navy, who returned the group to Morocco.
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More migrants landed, but arrivals overall down significantly
Another group of migrants landed on Lanzarote on Wednesday. A group of 28 people on a wooden boat arrived without assistance, among them five minors and four women, according to EFE.
This year, migrant arrivals on the Canaries – a group of Spanish islands located in the Atlantic off northwest Africa – are down significantly compared to the previous year. Some 3,700 migrants landed on the Canary Islands in the first half of 2026, compared to more than 11,000 people during the same period in 2026.
At least 168 people have died or gone missing on the route to the Canaries so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. The actual number could be much higher, as many boats go missing without being recorded.
Migrant who navigated boat arrested
Also this week, a man was arrested in La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife. Local authorities accuse the man -- who was detained on Tuesday (July 7) -- of being involved in facilitating irregular migration. He was allegedly the skipper of a wooden boat that arrived on Tenerife last November. A group of 84 migrants was on board the boat, many of whom needed urgent medical help after a nine-day crossing from Brufut, in the Gambia. This is according to reports by the local newspaper Canarias7.
There have been several prominent cases across Europe in recent years in which migrants have faced people smuggling charges because they piloted a boat that crossed a border. In the UK, a teen from Afghanistan is currently facing charges because he piloted a boat. In 2024, Senegalese migrant Ibrahima Bah was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in jail for piloting a boat during a deadly Channel crossing, even though survivors had testified that he had been coerced and had tried his best to steer the boat to safety.
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Prosecution of migrant pilots controversial
While there are laws forbidding persons from piloting a vehicle carrying people without an entry permit across a non-Schengen border in many EU countries, including Spain, Italy and Greece, and similar laws exist in the UK, it is not illegal to enter a country to seek safety and asylum. Because of this, cases prosecuting migrant pilots have been criticized by some human rights groups and experts as criminalization of people not directly involved in criminal smuggling networks.
"People are forced into precarious and dangerous crossings by sea … then, they are blamed for it," Captain Support, a group supporting migrant pilots facing criminal convictions said in 2024, commenting on the Bah case.