East African migrants drive surge of arrivals in Spain's Balearic islands

PALMA/BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) -More than 30 boats carrying about 600 irregular migrants have arrived in Spain's Balearic islands since Monday, officials said, as a new migratory route from North Africa gains traction after a crackdown by authorities in other jumping off points.

Overall, irregular migration to Spain has fallen this year, but it has risen by 170% in the Balearics in the first six months to around 3,000 people, official data shows. The number of boats, mostly departing from Algeria, more than doubled.

A significant number of the arrivals are from East Africa.

Konestory, a 20-year-old South Sudanese migrant, told Reuters on Tuesday in the Mallorcan capital of Palma that he had fled from growing instability in the region.

He paid $2,000 to board a boat from Algeria, which took 46 hours to reach the islands. They faced "a lot of waves", ran out of food and water, and got lost, he said.

"Now I'm happy. I'm looking at ways to talk to my mom to give her the information that I reached here," he said.

Authorities in the Balearic islands off eastern Spain - Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera - say they feel abandoned.

They fear they could become a new migrant gateway, like the Canary Islands, which received 47,000 from West Africa at the peak of that route's popularity in 2024.

Arrivals in the Canaries fell by 46% in January-July of this year, largely thanks to tightened controls by Mauritania.

"Where is the government of (Pedro) Sanchez?" Balearic regional leader Marga Prohens posted on X on Wednesday, referring to Spain's prime minister. She called for increased law enforcement resources and cooperation with Algeria.

The central government said last month it would improve the Balearics' capacity to absorb arrivals.

Local media in Mallorca have reported cases of newly arrived migrants being left by authorities for several hours in parks due to an absence of shelters before they board ferries to the mainland.

(Reporting by Francisco Ubilla and Joan Faus, editing by Aislinn Laing and Giles Elgood)