Initially, there was talk of up to 17 dead off Mallorca.

But the first horror reports did not come true.

Spanish rescue workers brought 14 migrants to safety whose boat was in distress off the Cabrera Islands;

three more passengers were searched for on Tuesday.

More and more migrants from Algeria are making their way to Spain.

The relatively short route to the Balearic Islands is also becoming increasingly important: According to official information, 1819 people landed on the islands with 120 boats this year - that is already significantly more than in the entire previous year.

Two weeks ago, around 250 migrants landed in Mallorca and Formentera in less than 24 hours.

Hans-Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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If the weather is good, the drive from the Algerian coast to the Balearic Islands only takes a good 20 hours. Most of the newcomers to Spain now come from Algeria: Last year, more than 11,500 Algerians, who mainly arrived in Almeria, Murcia, Alicante and the Balearic Islands, made up the largest group of migrants. There have never been so many. This development continues. The proportion of Algerians already makes up 35 percent this year, while the proportion of Moroccans, who have been in first place for years, is only 27 percent. According to the Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the continuing influx from Algeria after the migration crisis in the Canary Islands is currently causing the greatest concern.The North African country is suffering severely from the economic consequences of the corona pandemic and the ongoing political instability.

Action against smuggling networks

Most of the newcomers continue to cross over to the Canary Islands from western Africa.

This year there were more than 340 boats with more than 13,000 people on board - almost twice as many as in the same period last year.

According to the latest information from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, it was 51 percent more by the end of September than in the same period last year.

There were almost 29,000 migrants in the current year, a year ago up to September there were only a good 19,000.

On the route from Algeria, the smuggler mafia is now using real “taxi boats”. For this they systematically bought boats and powerful engines in Spain, which they then used several times, reports the newspaper "Voz de Alméria". On the Canary Islands there are mostly decrepit boats on the way, which are steered by one of the migrants, who in return does not have to pay anything and then stays in Spain. The boats from Algeria are on the other hand several times to increase the profit. In Spain, the smugglers allegedly also hold apartments for the migrants.

The Spanish police are increasingly taking action against these smuggling networks, which are also active in the drug trade and are increasingly aggressive.

The European border protection agency Frontex warns that they are trying to deliberately overtax the Spanish coast guard by sending several boats on their way at the same time.

The crossing from Algeria to Spain costs more than 3000 euros, where returns to Algeria practically came to a standstill during the pandemic.

Many Algerians then travel to Central European countries such as France and Germany.