Headlines
Spain, Frontex look for missing migrant boat off Balearic Islands
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 27, 2026
3 min readLast updated: February 27, 2026
Quick Summary
Spanish police and Frontex are searching for a migrant boat still missing on the Algeria–Balearics route after an NGO warning about three vessels carrying 81 people. Two boats were intercepted by the Algerian Navy, while air assets continue the search amid a shifting smuggling route toward Algeria.
Spain and Frontex search for missing migrant boat off Balearic Islands
Search operation and migration route context
Spanish police and Frontex launch search
MADRID/BARCELONA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Spanish police and European Union border agency Frontex were on Friday searching for a boat carrying an unknown number of migrants that had been trying to reach the Balearic Islands, the Spanish government said.
Walking Borders warning on missing boats
Migrant rights group Walking Borders had warned on Thursday that three boats with 81 people on board - including 10 women and two babies - had gone missing along the route between Algeria and the Balearics on the Mediterranean Sea.
Fast-growing EU migratory passage
It was one of the fastest-growing migratory passages into the EU last year even as overall arrivals to the bloc fell.
Deaths and disappearances in the Western Mediterranean
At least 483 migrants died or disappeared last year in the Western Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Frontex on smugglers shifting operations
Frontex said last year smugglers were switching their operations to Algeria from Morocco over what were perceived to be less stringent controls and were using faster boats.
Interceptions and ongoing aerial search
On Friday, the Spanish government's Balearics representative said the Algerian Navy had intercepted two of the three vessels, while two aircraft from Frontex and Spain's Guardia Civil continued searching for the third.
Unknown passenger count and condition details
The office did not provide details on how many people the missing boat was carrying, nor about the condition of the migrants on the two rescued boats.
Algeria embassy comment request
Algeria's Embassy in Spain did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arrivals data and Spain-Algeria cooperation
Irregular migrant arrivals by sea to the Balearic Islands fell 25% between January and February 15 compared with the same period of last year, according to Spain's Interior Ministry data.
Following last year's increase in arrivals, Spain has sought closer cooperation with Algeria against smuggling networks.
Interior minister comments on Frontex surveillance
Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Reuters last month that Madrid may request more Frontex air surveillance along the Algeria to the Balearics route.
Security information exchange focus
But he ruled out deploying Spanish police or handing equipment to Algeria, with which Spain had a testy relationship in recent years, to combat migration, and said the focus would be on deepening the exchange of security information.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Joan Faus and Paolo Laudani; editing by Aislinn Laing and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
Key Takeaways
- •The Algeria-to-Balearics corridor has become one of Europe’s fastest-growing Western Mediterranean entry routes, with Frontex attributing part of the rise to smugglers shifting operations from Morocco to Algeria and using faster boats. (al-monitor.com)
- •The human cost remains acute: IOM data show a record-deadly start to 2026 in the Mediterranean (606 dead or missing by late February), underscoring why rapid detection and search-and-rescue capacity matters in cases like the Balearics alert. (apnews.com)
- •Even where Spain’s overall irregular arrivals have declined, the Balearics have been an outlier with notable increases tied to route displacement—highlighting why Madrid is seeking deeper operational coordination and surveillance along this specific corridor. (en.hespress.com)
References
Frequently Asked Questions about Spain, Frontex look for missing migrant boat off Balearic Islands
1Who is searching for the missing migrant boat near the Balearic Islands?
Spanish police and the European Union border agency Frontex are searching for the boat, with Frontex and Spain's Guardia Civil using aircraft.
2How many boats and people were reported missing on the Algeria-Balearics route?
Walking Borders warned that three boats with 81 people on board, including 10 women and two babies, had gone missing along the route.
3What did Spain's Balearics representative say about the missing vessels?
The representative said the Algerian Navy intercepted two of the three vessels, while the search continued for the third.
4Did officials provide details on the missing boat or rescued migrants' condition?
No. The office did not provide details on how many people the missing boat was carrying or the condition of migrants on the two intercepted boats.
5What do Spain's Interior Ministry data show about arrivals to the Balearic Islands?
Irregular migrant arrivals by sea to the Balearic Islands fell 25% between January and February 15 compared with the same period a year earlier.
