A boat carrying 26 migrants landed in broad daylight at the popular tourist beach of Cala Santanyí in Mallorca on Friday, prompting lifeguards and Guardia Civil officers to intervene as sunbathers looked on. The arrival was one of four such landings in Mallorca and Formentera within a few hours, highlighting the scale and frequency of irregular migration reaching the Balearic Islands via small boats, often described locally as "taxi" boats. Officials warn the islands are struggling to cope with the volume of arrivals, which is placing growing strain on local resources and emergency services.

The boat, carrying 20 men and six women, reached the beach at around 1.55pm, with some passengers wading ashore and others scrambling over rocks before being helped by lifeguards; all 26 were reported to be in good health. The four boats that day brought the total to 75 arrivals on Friday alone, followed by a further 72 migrants across five boats on Saturday, and roughly 100 more in the preceding 24 hours, according to the Mallorca Island Council. Figures from Spain's Interior Ministry show 274 small boats carrying 5,095 migrants have reached the Balearic archipelago so far this year, prompting council president Llorenç Galmés to warn that Mallorca "cannot continue dealing alone" with a situation exceeding its capacity. The report also referenced the wider migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where tens of thousands crossed in July and ongoing tensions have led to violence, sexual assaults and clashes with residents.