image copyrightEPA
Groups of migrants continue trying to make the dangerous Atlantic crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands (Spain), a route in which thousands of people have lost their lives in recent years.
And a small island with just over 30 hospital beds is asking for reinforcements to handle the arrivals.
In the last five weeks, El Hierro has received 8,000 migrants, intensifying pressure on health and reception services.
The president of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, told the Reuters agency that the situation in the island territory of some 11,400 inhabitants is "absolutely unsustainable."
The authorities declared a state of emergency and requested more human and material resources from the central government.
"El Hierro is a small island that understands what migration is. We are very supportive," Alpidio Armas, president of the island's governing council, tells BBC Mundo.
"In the 50s and 60s we had to go to Venezuela. And we did it from the same port of La Restinga where canoes and boats arrive today," he adds.
what's happening
Since the beginning of November alone, more than 3,300 people have arrived on the island aboard about 30 boats, according to local authorities.
End of Most read
This is equivalent to almost a third of the population of the island, one of the main entry points to Europe for migrants from West Africa.
All the news you need is on BBC World Service
Download it here
End of Ad app
The reason so many boats reach this point is due to sea currents, but also the desire to avoid the coastal police of Gambia, Senegal, Guinea and also Mauritania.
"If a canoe leaves directly towards the Atlantic and then makes a right-angle turn when they reach imaginary highways in the sea, the boat will go directly to the port of La Restinga, to El Hierro," explains Alpidio Armas.
"It is an easy route and they take it to avoid the controls and patrols of all those countries."
These days, a breakdown in a crane also caused the empty canoes and boats that managed to arrive to pile up at the dock of La Restinga, a town of 673 inhabitants.
These are solid wooden boats between 20 and 24 meters in length and between 18 and 25 tons in weight. Clearing the dock is one of the priorities now.
"We have never been against migration. We ask that you take into account that, with so many boats in the water, it is difficult for the boats to be able to leave and enter the dock to go to work," the president of the La Restinga Neighborhood Association, Loly Hernández, explained in statements to Europa Press.
image source, Reuters
Lack of space
La Restinga's economy is based mainly on fishing, diving and tourism.
Authorities are seeking temporary accommodation for the new arrivals, while conditions at the island's hospital have become "undesirable," Armas explained on Spanish television.
"Every October and November we face the same situation. And until now we have always been able to transfer migrants to Tenerife, which is the largest island. But its centers are full with people arriving by boat or with people who have not been sent to the peninsula," Armas tells BBC Mundo.
"There is no space and this is what has caused El Hierro to be in an extreme situation right now. We are collapsed," he explains.
Armas adds that, despite the situation, boats continue to arrive every day.
This wave of migrants is approaching the record levels recorded in 2024, said the Canarian president, who added that, on some days, the current rate is even higher.
This increase in traffic on the route is due to the condition of the currents and weather. During the autumn months, sea conditions are calmer and more favorable.
Still, the danger remains.
A small boat carrying migrants capsized over the weekend off the northwest coast of Senegal, leaving at least 35 dead and one survivor.
From Senegal, the estimated distance in open sea is between 1,000 km and 2,000 km, depending on the starting point.
This is about 10 times the distance of other migratory routes that cross the Mediterranean.
Limited employment opportunities, family pressures and the existence of consolidated migration networks are some of the factors that drive people to leave Senegal, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
For many young people, the prospect of finding work and earning more abroad remains a powerful incentive, despite the risks involved in crossing the Atlantic on overcrowded boats.
Almost one in four young people in Senegal were unemployed during the second quarter of 2026, according to the country's statistics agency.
"We want to train them and make them stay"
And, although the island of El Hierro is overwhelmed by the current situation, Armas wants budget and teachers to train migrants so that they can integrate there.
"We want them to stay. They are workers that we need. For construction, for hospitality, for agriculture, livestock or fishing, it would be great for us," Armas tells BBC Mundo.
"But the problem is that there is no way for the government of the Canary Islands to articulate that proposal with us. And they are the ones who have the competence for this. We want them to leave us professionals for at least two years, so that we can train migrants and they can stay or go to other latitudes if they prefer."
During his visit to the Canary Islands in June 2026, Leo XIV focused a large part of his speeches on the reception of migrants and refugees and on the reality of the Atlantic, symbolically placing canoes on the dock during his last mass in Tenerife.
Discover more
Video
End of Video
