Investigators analysing the discovery of bodies of possible migrants bound hand and foot in the waters off the Balearics have linked them to a small boat that arrived in Alicante, according to the chief colonel of the Civil Guard on the islands, Alejandro Hernández, speaking in Ibiza on Monday. ‘We believe that these bodies that appeared here were migrants who were travelling in a boat that arrived in Alicante,’ said Hernández, who on Monday presented the High Impact Operation Zulú Bravo 2025 for the Pitiusas Islands alongside the government delegate, Alfonso Rodríguez.
The colonel reported that the National Police in Alicante is in charge of the investigation into five bodies that appeared bound in Balearics waters, which are being investigated as possible murders.
‘There is an investigation that we are not conducting because it is linked to these bodies that have appeared on a boat that arrived on the coast of Alicante. We are investigating the bodies that are turning up drowned,’ added the chief colonel, referring to the 31 bodies found between January and June in the water or on the coast of the islands.
Hernández said that the death of migrants at sea ‘is a tragedy’ and expressed his hope that ‘no more people will be added’ to the list of missing persons on the migration route. The Government delegate in the Balearics, Alfonso Rodríguez, added that the discovery of the bound bodies highlights the ‘tragedy’ unfolding on the boats arriving from Algeria and criticised those who ‘trivialise this migratory movement’, referring to ‘political representatives’ who criticise the fact that migrants arrive with ‘their sunglasses and mobile phones’. ‘Listen, they come with their mobile phones because they need to tell their families that they have made it,’ he argued.
Rodríguez stressed that the ‘Spanish government, within its powers, is working to save these lives’ and that ‘a great deal of effort must be made to cope with the increase in migration’. The delegate acknowledged that in 2025 the ‘number of migrants’ arriving on the islands in small boats continues to grow.
According to EFE’s count based on data from the Government Delegation, with the latest rescues on Monday, the number of immigrants this year has reached 2,956. The number of migrants arriving by boat on Monday on the Balearics has risen to 88 after a boat with 17 North Africans on board was intercepted at 10.40 a.m. south of La Mola (Formentera). According to information provided by the Government Delegation, this group of people joins the 71 who arrived in four other boats.
At 1.10 a.m. on Monday, a total of 12 people of North African origin were rescued two miles south of Mallorca. The Provincial Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil, USECIC Civil Guard and Maritime Rescue Service were involved in the operation. Shortly afterwards, at 2.33 a.m., a second boat carrying 13 people of North African origin was rescued, this time located 7.5 miles south of Mallorca, with the Armed Forces and Maritime Rescue once again intervening.
At 4.35 a.m., the Guard Civil and Maritime Rescue Service carried out a third rescue, this time 11 miles south of the island of Cabrera, where a small boat carrying 24 people of sub-Saharan origin was found. Finally, also 11 miles south of Cabrera, 22 people of sub-Saharan origin were rescued at around 5.59 a.m., with the intervention of the Maritime Rescue Service and the Guardia Civil.
In addition to these rescues, on Sunday at 9.40 p.m., the Maritime Rescue Service and the Guardia Civil rescued 12 people of Maghreb origin 7.5 miles east of Cabrera. This brings the number of migrants who arrived on the Balearic coast between Sunday and Monday to 189.