The Balearic Islands have again established their position this year, as in the previous two years, as the preferred destination for the arrival of migrants of Algerian origin. So far this year more than twice as many boats have arrived in Formentera than in 2020, for example. Until today, the smaller pitiusa has received 36 boats with 517 migrants, while during the whole of last year 17 boats arrived with 184 people.
Taxi boats in Ibiza and Formentera
The first boat to reach the Pitiusas coasts this year, did so on February 5 in the area of Cala Vedella in Ibiza, with 16 migrants on board, three of them minors. They were all young men and half of them Algerian. Since then, the trickle of arrivals of small boats has been constant, mostly with occupants of Algerian origin, as confirmed by sources from the Government Delegation, who use the islands as a gateway to Europe to try to reach France or Belgium. In May, for the first time on the Balearic Islands, there was a disembarkation from a ‘taxi patera’. An unflagged sailboat disembarked five young men, all of Algerian origin, near the beach of es Arenals, in Formentera. The skipper of the boat fled by motorboat after leaving the migrants, according to witnesses who were in the area. For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.
