Four people died and six were hospitalized after a pirogue carrying 113 people, most of them children, was rescued off El Hierro following an eight-day crossing from The Gambia.
Four people have died aboard a pirogue that left The Gambia eight days ago for the Canary Islands with 115 people on board and was rescued early on Friday about 68 kilometers south of El Hierro, according to Spain’s Maritime Rescue service, emergency services, and survivors.
Emergency crews recovered two bodies from the vessel. Initial reporting said one was a baby, but the court in El Hierro later confirmed to EFE that both recovered bodies were those of young adult men. Survivors said that the bodies of the other two people who died were thrown overboard during the crossing.
Six survivors were hospitalized, five at Hospital de El Hierro and one young girl aged around two, who was evacuated by helicopter in serious condition to Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. She was traveling with her parents. Her father was among those whose body remained aboard the pirogue, according to her mother, who spoke to emergency services at the port of La Restinga.
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Mostly children aboard
The pirogue was carrying 113 people when it was located. Most were children and teenagers, 61 of the 113 occupants were minors, according to an assistance report compiled at the quay in La Restinga and obtained by Spanish news agency EFE.
They included 54 boys and male adolescents and seven girls and female adolescents. Apart from three infants who survived the crossing and three other children, all had boarded without an adult responsible for their care.
The Canary Islands emergency service, 112 Canarias, launched the operation at about 10.55pm on Thursday after Maritime Rescue reported receiving two distress calls from a pirogue heading toward El Hierro from an undetermined location.
The Maritime Rescue coordination center in Santa Cruz de Tenerife urgently deployed the Helimer 204 helicopter and the Salvamar Navia. The vessel located the pirogue at about 1am, roughly 68 kilometers south of La Restinga.
The Salvamar Navia rescue vessel brought the remaining 110 survivors to the port of La Restinga at about 4am Among them were eight women and eight minors. Personnel from the Canary Islands Health Service and the Spanish Red Cross provided initial medical assistance on the quay.
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October on the Atlantic Route
The deaths occurred as October drew to a close amid a sharp increase in departures of small boats and pirogues toward the Canary Islands. More than 4,000 people arrived in the archipelago during the month, according to a provisional count released by the Canary Islands government.
The regional government has accused the Spanish central government of "negligence" in addressing the migration situation. Its spokesperson, Alfonso Cabello, said the Atlantic Route had "once again demonstrated its lethality" after several people died attempting to reach El Hierro.
Cabello said 4,246 people had arrived in the Canary Islands in October, a 237 percent increase compared with the same month in 2025. He questioned what the central government was doing to prevent further deaths and said the regional authorities had no information about measures being taken to address the situation.
He described conditions as “particularly dramatic” in El Hierro and Lanzarote, but said migration was a challenge shared by Canary Islands society as a whole.
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With EFE