More than 3,000 migrants died trying to reach Spain by sea in 2025, NGO says

More than 3,000 people died trying to reach Spain throughout 2025, an NGO said on Monday.

The Caminando Fronteras group said that 3,090 people had died this year, representing a significant increase in deaths on the route from Algeria to the Balearic Islands.

The Right to Life Monitoring 2025 report published on Monday indicates that of the 3,090 deaths, 192 were women and 437 were minors.

Caminando Fronteras loggeda record of more than 10,000 deaths at sea on the way to Spain in 2024.

This year's figures represent a drop in migrant arrivals from North Africa to the Canary Islands, one of the world's deadliest crossings for migrants hoping to reach the EU.

According to the Interior Ministry, as of 15 December irregular arrivals of immigrants to Spain fell by 40.4% compared to 2024, with an even sharper drop in the case of the Canary Islands, where it was 59.9 %.

In total, 303 tragedies were reported, 121 of which occurred between Algeria and the Balearic Islands, especially towards Ibiza and Formentera, the route that has seen the most boat traffic this year.

The lethal Canary Islands route

However, the large volume of boats heading to the Canary Islands makes this route the largest in terms of the number of people crossing and the most dangerous, with 1,906 victims compared to 1,037 on the Mediterranean route.

Despite the notable drop in the number of arrivals and deaths, Caminando Fronteras has warned of the opening of a new route from the west African country Guinea, which they say is more dangerous, especially for the women and children using it.

In the Strait of Gibraltar, there has also been an increase in the number of attempts to swim across it, with 139 victims, 24% of whom were children and adolescents.

According to the coordinator of this research, Helena Maleno, the decrease in the number of deaths is a statistical decrease because the boats that sink on the Algerian route are smaller than the cayuco canoes that travel to the Canary Islands.

Caminando Fronteras insists that these fatalities are partly due to "the insufficient activation of rescue mechanisms and the outsourcing of border control and management to third countries, dynamics that increase the vulnerability and lack of protection of people during migratory journeys."