Walter Finch
THE number of migrants who have arrived in the Balearics this year has almost tripled the figure from the same period in 2023.
Authorities intercepted 199 migrants across Mallorca’s southern coasts and Formentera early on Thursday morning, adding to the six boats carrying 128 individuals the previous day.
A total of 71 people in five small boats had been intercepted by 9am – the first was detected around midnight, in the Cala Marsal area.
Guardia Civil officers found 19 people from the sub-Saharan region in good apparent health.
Barely half an hour later, they were alerted to a new boat, this time already landed in the ??s’Estanyol area. Officers from Llucmajor, Calvia and Campos were scrambled to intercept the 13 immigrants, nine of them from North Africa and four of sub-Saharan African origin.
It pushes the total for 2024 to 5,099 arrivals on 305 boats since January.
It’s up from 1,821 in 101 vessels during the same period last year – a 180% rise.
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With still over a month left in 2024, the figures have already exceeded last year’s total of 2,278 undocumented immigrants by 124%.
Spanish authorities attribute this sharp rise to shifts in migration patterns from North Africa, although they were keen to stress that the Balearics route had not become entrenched.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the figure could have been even higher – he pointed to efforts to dismantle human trafficking networks that have prevented 40% of departures.
