Since Friday, 1,107 people, including 35 minors and 32 women, have reached the Canary Islands aboard nine boats. Sunday saw 668 arrivals; six people were taken to hospital, one in critical condition.
People reached El Hierro and Gran Canaria; Lanzarote was also among the destinations. The weekend’s scale comes amid a marked late-summer acceleration, although the year-to-date total remains below the same period in 2025.
By September 30, 2026, 95 vessels had brought 7,133 people to the islands by sea. In the same period of 2025, 211 boats carried 12,848 people.
Information provided to emergency services and reported by Efe indicates that three boats reaching El Hierro had departed from Gambia or Senegal. The vessel that arrived on Friday carried 123 people and had left Barra in Gambia, making an eight-day crossing.
On Sunday, a boat carrying 220 people arrived after setting out from Niodior in Senegal. It had spent six days at sea. Another boat, with 136 people aboard, had sailed for seven days from Brufut in Gambia. Authorities have not disclosed departure points for the other arrivals.
Interior Ministry figures show that 7,133 people reached the islands by sea between January and September, 44.5% fewer than in the same period of 2025, a difference of 5,715 people. The ministry recorded 95 vessels in 2026, against 211 boats and 12,848 arrivals in 2025.
That year-to-date comparison hides a sharp shift. Arrivals in the first quarter were down 82.6%. From March to June, they rose by 9. In the third quarter, arrivals more than doubled, reaching 3,425 from 1,527.
September drove much of the late-quarter rise. The month recorded 1,970 arrivals, about four times August’s 488. Europa Press reported a 172% increase compared with September 2025; the figures cited here put the rise at 173%. El Hierro and Lanzarote were among the basic destinations.
In late September, Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo called the increase foreseeable. He linked it to the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, which entered into force in June, and said attention shifting towards the Mediterranean after the Ceuta crisis was leaving the Atlantic route less protected.
On October 12, Clavijo said more than 3,800 people had arrived in a little over a month and a half since the start of September. He warned that the islands could face a return to the scale of 2024, when around 47,000 people arrived.
In October, Clavijo also pointed to events in Ceuta and the redeployment of Moroccan forces to the north, saying these developments could add pressure to the Atlantic route. These are Clavijo’s assessments, not causes established by official arrival statistics. He has also accused the central government of failing to respond to the renewed increase. Arrivals have climbed sharply from the first quarter, while the cumulative total remains below last year’s.
The route is traditionally busier from September through autumn. North-east trade winds over the Atlantic weaken during that period, and sea conditions become less rough for precarious boats departing West Africa.
Organisations involved in reception say their teams have remained in place. They describe the pattern of rises and falls as familiar, not an emergency.
