Madar (International) - Spain's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, escorted three boats carrying more than 340 migrants to the port of La Restinga, on the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, early on Friday, 6 November 2026, the Spanish news agency Europa Press reported.
According to the agency, the first boat was spotted at 1 a.m. about 11 nautical miles south of La Restinga with some 174 people on board. The second docked at 4:42 a.m. after being detected about 12 miles to the south, with no estimate yet of how many people it carried.
The third arrived at 5:42 a.m. with 166 people on board after being located 13 miles south of the island, the same source said.
These arrivals come on top of the 743 migrants who reached the Canary Islands on Thursday, 5 November, on seven boats, according to Europa Press: three boats to El Hierro carrying 99, 194 and 207 people, two to Arguineguin in Gran Canaria with 73 and 39 people, one with 80 people on La Gomera and another with 51 people on Lanzarote.
Crossings on the Atlantic route have accelerated since the start of the month, with more than 3,200 migrants reaching the archipelago in the first five days of November, most of them on El Hierro.
