Madar (International) - 434 migrants reached the Canary Islands on four boats between Friday evening and Saturday morning, October 31, 2026, according to Spain's Maritime Rescue service, as reported by Canary Islands public television.
The largest boat brought 244 sub-Saharan Africans, including nine minors and nine women, to the port of La Restinga on El Hierro, while 91 people were rescued about 80 kilometres from the island; they said they had left Kartong, Gambia, seven days earlier, and came from Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Guinea-Bissau.
Another 30 migrants, who said they had spent six days at sea from Senegal, were rescued, along with 69 others on a small boat heading to Arguineguin port in Gran Canaria, most of them from North Africa.
The arrivals came a day after another tragedy: four people died on a cayuco carrying 113 people found 68 kilometres south of La Restinga; two bodies were recovered and two others were thrown overboard during the crossing, and a girl of about two, whose father was among the dead, was airlifted in serious condition to Tenerife.
According to a provisional count by the Canary Islands government, more than 4,000 people reached the archipelago in October amid a revival of the Atlantic route used by boats leaving the region's coasts, while the Canary government spokesman said four letters sent to Madrid had gone unanswered.
