On 24 October 2026, the representative of the central government in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana (Delegación del Gobierno en Canarias), and the president of the Cabildo de El Hierro, Alpidio Armas, publicly paid tribute to the work of rescue, security and aid services on El Hierro. The occasion was a marked rise in arrivals along the Atlantic route, which has put the island under considerable strain since 23 October.
According to the authorities and regional media, several overcrowded cayucos were spotted near La Restinga within a few hours and brought to safety by Salvamento Marítimo . RTVC and AtlánticoHoy reported on 23 and 24 October that several hundred people had arrived; some reports put the number rescued in the waters around the island at over a thousand during the day. The figures differ depending on when they were recorded, but broadly agree: arrivals in recent days were well above the previously recorded level.
Initial assistance is organised by a network of state and voluntary services. On the ground, Salvamento Marítimo, Cruz Roja, Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional with the Servicio Canario de Salud and local emergency services worked together, among others. According to the authorities, child protection was provided by the Servicio de Protección del Menor. The coordination of landings and transfers also relied on the port authority Puertos Canarios and logistical support.
In their statements, Pestana and Armas stressed the importance of well-established procedures and the need to maintain humane standards for reception and care. They attributed the recent increase to a combination of factors, including favourable weather windows along the Atlantic route. They made no specific forecasts of further arrivals or announcements of policy measures.
El Hierro is the smallest inhabited Canary Island and has limited reception capacity. Larger waves of arrivals therefore pose particular organisational challenges for accommodation, health checks and transfers to other islands. The events of recent days form part of the elevated activity on the route to the Canary Islands that has continued for months and is being reported on regularly. The priority is to deploy resources quickly where they are urgently needed; at the same time, aid organisations have long highlighted the need for stable capacity beyond individual incidents.
This report is based on official statements from the Delegación del Gobierno en Canarias and the Cabildo de El Hierro, as well as consistent information from regional media and rescue services on 23 and 24 October 2026. Older figures were used only where necessary to put the current developments in context.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).