The 143 people rescued from an inflatable off Lanzarote included ten women and five minors. It was the most heavily overloaded vessel of its type recorded so far on the Canary migration route.
It was one of several arrivals reported across the archipelago since midnight on Saturday 7 November. More than 200 people reached La Restinga on El Hierro, while Salvamento Marítimo assisted another 100 in two groups at La Estaca. EFE reported that 743 people arrived aboard seven vessels in fewer than 24 hours on 7 November. Around 740 people have arrived in total since midnight Saturday.
About 5,000 people have reached the islands by boat so far in November. The Canary Islands government counted 4,587 arrivals in 49 boats between 1 and 6 November, including 35 boats reaching El Hierro. Reuters separately reported that 3,261 migrants had been rescued at sea during the first six days of November. El País reported more than 3,200 arrivals aboard 39 boats in the first five days, with approximately 2,300 people reaching El Hierro. The island’s Cabildo has declared a social emergency as pressure mounts on social services supporting migrants. Reuters reported that transport and healthcare services were under strain: buses were diverted to migration operations, and medical staff came from other islands to La Restinga. Fernando Clavijo described the pace of arrivals as unsustainable and said some days exceeded the pace of the 2024 record surge.
Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands government, said he had spoken by phone with Pedro Sánchez about the situation. Sánchez committed to convene the Interministerial Commission on Immigration at Moncloa on Tuesday 10 November and reinforce health resources through the State Secretariat for Migration. The Spanish Government confirmed the meeting would take place before the Council of Ministers, chaired by Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory Minister Ángel Víctor Torres. Clavijo and El Hierro Cabildo president Alpidio Armas were invited to attend. The Canary government has also sought additional police support, as earlier coverage of calls for reinforcements reported.
Clavijo wants the meeting to produce a joint plan spelling out specific measures and who must carry them out, with deadlines. He also requested urgent meetings with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner. On 6 November, Clavijo wrote to Brunner seeking urgent European intervention over the increase on the Atlantic route. Official figures reported by El Español put arrivals in the Canary Islands at 10,209 between 1 October and 6 November, 58.5% of the 17,447 maritime arrivals recorded across 2026 by that date.
Weather conditions pose a separate risk to crossings. Spain’s national weather agency, Aemet, forecast storms and showers across the Canary Islands on Sunday 8 November as a front linked to storm Bruna moves through. The agency warned that rainfall could be strong or very strong and persistent on the higher islands.
Gran Canaria’s Cabildo ordered all public and private activities that bring people together to be suspended from 12.00 on Sunday, regardless of capacity or whether they take place indoors or outdoors.
