Do I need to change anything as a visitor to El Hierro?

No official changes to prices, closures or rules were known by Friday 13 November. If you need the hospital or the bus, confirm appointments and journeys beforehand, because both are under strain.

How many people arrived on El Hierro on 13 November?

Salvamento Marítimo rescued five cayucos carrying 433 people, including at least 51 women and 26 minors. There was still no data on a sixth boat by the evening.

Why has El Hierro declared a state of emergency?

President Alpidio Armas wants to create a framework for cooperation with higher institutions. The available information names neither a legal basis nor a duration.

Where do the boats come from?

According to the emergency services, the boats of 13 November set off from Gambia and from Saint-Louis in northern Senegal. The journeys took four to eight days.

How many people arrived in the Canary Islands in 2026?

The Interior Ministry counted 13,327 sea arrivals from January to October, 5.5% fewer than in 2025. Reports say the November figures follow in early December.

El Hierro: 5 cayucos, 433 people rescued on 13 November

Q: Who looks after the new arrivals on the pier?

Salvamento Marítimo escorts the boats to La Restinga, and the Red Cross gives first medical aid. The Canary Islands government and the Cabildo house unaccompanied minors.

What changes for visitors and residents on El Hierro?

No authority had announced new prices, closures or visitor rules by Friday 13 November. Unions and the regional government say the pressure falls on three places: the island hospital, the buses and the port of La Restinga.

The Cabildo (island government) of El Hierro declared a state of emergency on Friday 6 November. President Alpidio Armas wants it to create “a framework for cooperation with higher institutions”.

At the Hospital Insular Nuestra Señora de los Reyes, 15 of 30 beds hold migrants, says the union Asamblea7Islas. Armas called the conditions there undesirable.

Anyone with a hospital appointment should confirm it beforehand, although no warning for patients or visitors is known. The union, which represents about 14,000 staff of the Canary health service, wants a military field hospital on the pier at La Restinga.

Regional president Fernando Clavijo says buses have been diverted to migration duties. Nobody has published which routes are affected, so anyone relying on the guagua (local bus) should check with the operator before travelling.

What happened at the port of La Restinga on 13 November?

Three Salvamento Marítimo (state sea rescue) boats picked up five cayucos carrying 433 people on Friday. At least 51 of them are women and 26 are minors, the island's emergency services said.

Rescuers found the first boat at dawn, with 117 people from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea on board. They had left Gambia eight days earlier, and the group included 24 women and at least 17 minors.

Seven people from this first boat needed medical help. The second cayuco, recovered by the Salvamar Ácrux, carried 82 men from Senegal.

The Salvamar Diphda brought the third boat into La Restinga at about 16:30. It carried 107 people from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau and Mali, including 13 women and 5 minors.

After 18:30 the Salvamar Navia brought two more boats to the pier. One carried 68 people, the other 59 Senegalese who had left Saint-Louis four days earlier.

The Salvamar Diphda returned at 19:30. Earlier it had helped a sixth boat 53 kilometres off the coast, and by the evening there were no details on the people aboard.

How has the situation developed since early November?

In the first nine days of November, the Canary Islands government counted 6,665 arrivals in 66 boats. Of these boats, 48 headed for El Hierro, and around 1,400 people arrived on the weekend of 7 and 8 November alone.

Local authorities say more than 3,300 people arrived in about 30 boats in early November. The island has around 11,400 residents.

In October the Interior Ministry counted 6,194 arrivals on the Canary route. The figure of 15,729 is the total for the record year 2023, not an October number.

From January to October the ministry registered 13,327 sea arrivals, 5.5% fewer than in 2025. The record of more than 46,000 came in 2024.

So the numbers only jumped in autumn. Frontex reported around 7,100 irregular entries to the Canary Islands for the first nine months, 45% fewer, and warned that the situation could change quickly.

Who is responsible, and how are politicians and police reacting?

Clavijo called the situation “absolutely unsustainable” on 6 November and criticised the lack of a response from the state. He added that the regional government had brought in doctors from other islands.

He demanded an urgent Junta de Seguridad (security meeting of state and region). Ministry sources ruled it out for now and see the demand as early campaigning for the 2027 regional elections.

Anselmo Pestana, the central government's delegate in the Canary Islands, visited La Restinga on 9 November. He also planned to visit the CATE (police reception centre) in San Andrés and the work on the Centro de Primeras Llegadas in Echedo.

The police unions Jupol, SUP and UFP report too few officers on the island. A mobile crane lifts empty boats off the pier, and the Guardia Civil union JUCIL complains of missing resources.

Salvamento Marítimo escorts the boats to La Restinga, where the Red Cross gives first medical aid. The Canary Islands government and the Cabildo house unaccompanied minors.

Which decisions and dates are still pending?

The Cabildo has not named a legal basis or a duration for the state of emergency. There is no date for whether the Junta de Seguridad will meet or a field hospital will be approved.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska was due to travel to Senegal on 6 November, now the main departure country. The Interior Ministry will publish its next two-week tally, and the November figures are expected in early December.

EU Commissioner Brunner announced a proposal for an “emergency framework” by the end of the year. It would allow asylum to be suspended in the event of mass arrivals.