The Canary Islands concluded the final week of 2024 with the arrival of 1,933 migrants, including one fatality, who reached the islands on 34 vessels, as reported by the rescue and emergency services.
This week’s statistics position the archipelago at a new annual high. With these arrivals, the total number of irregular maritime entries is expected to surpass 46,000. As of December 15, when the Ministry of the Interior released its report up to that date, the count stood at 43,737 during an exceptionally hectic December.
All of this unfolds amid a political contention involving parties and autonomous communities, which has yet to yield a decisive agreement regarding the primary proposal: a consensus between PSOE and PP for amending Article 35 of the immigration law that would facilitate an equitable allocation of over 5,500 unaccompanied foreign minors currently cared for solely by the Government of the Canary Islands.
On the recent Sunday in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Secretary of Economy of the PSOE’s federal Executive, Enma López, called on the PP to “refrain from aligning with the far right,” which distances them from a national consensus that should not be ignored. She urged for a return to “discreet” negotiations to finalize the reform.
This week saw no arrivals on Monday, but during Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, the Canary Islands continued to register makeshift boats attempting to reach their shores, tallying eight vessels with at least 387 migrants aboard. Six of these craft landed at the port of Los Cristianos in Tenerife, while the remaining two made landfall at Gran Canaria and El Hierro.
The following day, December 26th, Maritime Rescue performed five operations, rescuing a total of 274 migrants. Three of the boats reached the port of La Restinga in El Hierro, while the other two arrived at the port of Los Cristianos in Tenerife.

The Canary Islands wrap up the last week of the year with 1,933 migrants and awaiting consensus / EFE
On the 27th, Friday, 339 individuals were rescued from seven cayucos, with one person sadly perishing during the journey. One vessel was rescued south of Tenerife, while the other six were recovered in El Hierro.
On Saturday, the total surged to 658 individuals aboard ten barges, of which seven arrived in Lanzarote as inflatable boats, two cayucos reached El Hierro, and one boat landed in the southern part of Tenerife.
This Sunday, 275 individuals were rescued in the waters surrounding the archipelago from four boats, with the crews of three making landfall at the La Restinga dock in El Hierro, while the other arrived in Arguineguín, south of Gran Canaria.
In most instances, the migrants informed the emergency teams that they originated from nations such as Mali, Gambia, Senegal, Morocco, or Mauritania, where a significant proportion of departures have occurred in recent months, leading to many casualties.
The NGO Caminando Fronteras, which annually compiles a report on fatalities along various migratory routes to Spain, estimated this Saturday that 9,757 individuals lost their lives on the Atlantic Route while attempting to reach the Canary Islands in boats or cayucos throughout 2024.
The overall death toll in Spain reached 10,457, meaning that nine out of every ten fatalities while trying to reach the Spanish coast occurred on the Canary Route.
This statistic translates to an average of 28 fatalities per day in 2024, marking a year that has proven to be the deadliest on record for the islands, surpassing the previous year’s tally of at least 6,007 migrant deaths.