A wooden boat crammed with 280 people that arrived at the Canary island of El Hierro on Tuesday is thought to be the most crowded migrant vessel to have reached the Spanish archipelago after traversing the perilous Atlantic route from west Africa.
More than 500 people reached El Hierro on Tuesday alone, as smugglers took advantage of the calmer autumn weather to ferry people to the Canaries. Emergency services reported another boat arriving with 79 people, while 127 others were rescued from the sea.
