Spanish rescue services picked up more than 200 migrants aboard at least ten small boats off the Balearic Islands between Tuesday, February 24, and the early hours of Wednesday, February 25, according to Spanish media reports.

The latest arrivals continue a sharp upward trend on the Mediterranean route to the Balearics. Interior ministry data shows at least 621 migrants have reached the islands in 34 small boats since the beginning of 2026. Last year, 7,321 migrants arrived on 401 boats.

What happened on Tuesday and Wednesday?

On Wednesday, 54 migrants arrived in the early hours of the morning, Spanish news site Ultima Hora reported. A first rescue took place at around 2:30 am, roughly 44 miles from the island of Ibiza. That boat carried 30 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries.

Later, around 15 people from North Africa were discovered near the pier on Formentera after they had disembarked.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Spanish news agency EFE reported the arrival of 156 migrants. Around 100 of them came from the Maghreb countries and 56 from sub-Saharan African countries, EFE confirmed.

Arrivals continued throughout Tuesday. Ultima Hora and ABC reported that the last boat of the night was spotted at around 10:19 pm off the coast of Mallorca, carrying 24 people.

How busy has the route been this year?

The two-day surge followed the arrival of five small boats on Monday, February 23, when 86 migrants reached the Balearic Islands, EFE reported.

The interior ministry's figures point to a sustained shift toward this route:

• 2026 to date: at least 621 arrivals on 34 boats
• 2025 total: 7,321 arrivals on 401 boats
• 2025 vs 2024: a 24.5% increase in arrivals and a 15% increase in the number of boats

The gap between those two percentages means each boat is being loaded more heavily than before.

Why are arrivals to the Balearics rising?

The increase contrasts with a 60% drop in arrivals on the Atlantic route to the Spanish Canary Islands recorded in 2025.

Analysts link the Atlantic decline to agreements between Spain, the EU and several West African governments — including Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco — aimed at stepping up coastal controls and preventing departures on the dangerous crossing.

However, increased controls near the Canary Islands have reportedly pushed more boats to set off from countries further south, such as Gambia and Guinea, in an attempt to avoid patrols along the Senegalese, Mauritanian and Moroccan coasts.

That detour makes the crossing even more dangerous. Migrants often spend more than a week at sea, and some head further from the coast sooner to evade patrols — placing them more quickly at the mercy of Atlantic currents and winds.

How deadly are these routes?

Survivors of the Atlantic crossing report passing "ghost ships" along the way — some may still carry the bodies of migrants, others drift lost in the Atlantic. Many who complete the journey say fellow passengers did not survive days without fresh water or food. Engines and boats frequently fail before the crossing ends.

Aerial surveillance of the Atlantic routes remains limited because the potential crossing area is so vast. The NGO Humanitarian Pilots runs a monitoring project, but launches its plane only when it hears a boat may be in trouble.

NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) argues the lack of surveillance explains why tens of thousands of people may have died en route to the Canary Islands over the years. The exact toll is hard to quantify: most departures go unregistered, there is no official passenger list, and some migrants hide their departure from friends and family, contacting them only if they arrive safely.

Caminando Fronteras estimates that 3,090 migrants died trying to cross Spanish borders in 2025:

• 1,906 on the Canary Islands route across the Atlantic
• 1,037 toward Mediterranean islands such as the Balearics
• 139 on the route between Morocco and southern Spain
• 3 on crossings toward the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla
• 5 on the so-called Alboran route, connecting Morocco's coast with eastern Andalucia

The figures come from the NGO's own estimates; official confirmation of the full toll does not exist. Interior ministry arrival data and rescue operations remain the primary official record of movements toward the Balearic and Canary Islands.