At least 107 migrants have been rescued or intercepted after reaching the southern coast of Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera on board six boats in the early hours of this Monday morning. At 2 a.m., the Maritime Rescue Service rescued 22 people, 16 men of sub-Saharan origin and six of Asian origin, from a boat located 0.15 miles from Cala S’Almunia, southeast of Mallorca, according to the Balearic Government Delegation.
An hour later, the Guardia Civil intercepted five people of North African origin after they arrived in the area of Es Cupinar, in Formentera, aboard another boat. At around 3:45 a.m., the Maritime Rescue Service and the Provincial Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil rescued 24 people of sub-Saharan origin aboard a boat seven miles southeast of the island of Cabrera, in Mallorca.
Also in Cabrera, 5.5 miles southeast of the islands, another 17 people of North African origin were intercepted in a boat. Another boat with 21 occupants of Maghreb origin was located at around 5 a.m. on Caló des Mort beach in Formentera. In addition, on the island of Ibiza, another group of 18 people of Maghreb origin was intercepted in the early hours of the day after reaching the area of Cala Nova, in Santa Eulària des Riu, in another boat.
Last week, the Balearic Port Authority (APB) set up different areas in the ports of Palma, Ibiza and La Savina (Formentera) to temporarily accommodate migrants arriving by boat and ensure adequate humanitarian care. So far this year, a total of 243 boats have arrived on the Balearic Islands with 4,538 migrants, according to EFE’s count based on figures from the Government Delegation in the Balearics.
In 2024, 5,882 migrants arrived in the region irregularly by sea, according to the Ministry of the Interior’s Annual National Security Report. But, as many migrant routes into Europe are effectively being shut down by increased surveillance and interceptions, other routes are gaining in popularity -- as smugglers continue to cash in on desperate migrants hoping to reach the EU. The routes from Libya to Crete and from Algeria to the Balearics are two examples.
Overall, irregular migrant arrivals into the European Union have been steadily declining since 2024; last year, only 240,000 people successfully made irregular journeys to Europe, marking a decline of about 60,000 compared to the previous year. In the first six months of 2025, a further drop of roughly 20 percent is being observed; however, this does not mean that every irregular route into the bloc is equally affected.
Some corridors into the EU are even seeing increased migrant traffic, while new routes are emerging at the same time in response to existing routes being monitored and controlled more closely.
Although the overall number of irregular migrants successfully making their way to Europe has fallen, many migrants and their smugglers continue to find new - and oftentimes more dangerous - routes to take people to the continent.
Stricter measures at all EU borders introduced progressively in recent years may have contributed to this downward trend, which was first observed last year. The EU has also spent billions on boosting the activity of EU border agency Frontex and its staff at both its external and internal borders over the past decade since the onset of the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015 and 2016. According to Frontex itself, the drop in arrivals is also directly related to increased EU cooperation with known transit countries, especially in North and West Africa.