'Taxi boats' land 72 migrants in the Balearics in a day

Today's essentials (3 key points)

• Police in Manacor uncovered a substandard flat where 30 people were crammed into 228 square metres, each paying 80 to 100 euros a month for a room or a space, as reported by Última Hora and Es Diari.
• Mallorcan Elisabeth Reynés finished as first runner-up at the Miss World pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, according to Última Hora.
• Menorcan padel player Gemma Triay reached 57 career titles, equalling Alejandra Salazar's all-time record, Es Diari reports.

Today's essentials

'Taxi boats' land 72 migrants in the Balearics in a day. Five boats carrying 72 migrants reached the Balearic Islands on Saturday 6 September 2026, among them 16 people intercepted by the Guardia Civil near the Cap de ses Salines lighthouse on Mallorca, according to Última Hora and Infobae.

Diario de Mallorca reports that the networks controlling the Algeria to Mallorca crossing have gone back to the so-called taxi patera, a fast, powerful boat that drops people on the coast and turns straight back for another run. The paper dates the pattern to Friday 5 September, when one of these craft put 12 migrants of Maghrebi origin ashore at the entrance to the port of Cabrera, close to the lighthouse.

Última Hora and Infobae, drawing on an agency wire, put the wider picture in numbers: across that Saturday, five boats reached Mallorca, Cabrera and Formentera with 72 people on board, a total that includes the 16 stopped near the Cap de ses Salines. The two accounts line up on the day's interceptions, though no single article confirms in so many words that the 16 are counted inside the 72.

What sets these crossings apart is the hardware. The boat seized on Saturday, according to Diario de Mallorca, was a fibreglass hull of six to seven metres fitted with a 115 to 150 horsepower four-stroke Suzuki engine and extra fuel tanks, enough to cover the 150 nautical miles from Algeria in a little over nine hours instead of the 48 a standard patera takes. Friday's boat at Cabrera carried two 300 horsepower outboards, built to sprint back to the Algerian coast for the next group. The intercepted craft was impounded and taken to the Club Náutico de sa Ràpita.

Seen over the year, the trend is actually downward. Between January and 6 September 2026, Última Hora and Infobae count 274 boats and 5,095 migrants arriving in the Balearics, against 401 boats and 7,321 people across the whole of 2025. Arrivals were still running above 1,000 people a month in mid-August, and the judicial pressure is real: three Algerian taxi patera skippers were charged and jailed at the end of February 2026 as part of an operation aimed at the heads of the route.

What this changes for you: if you live near or sail off the south and east of Mallorca, around sa Ràpita, Santanyí, Campos or the Cabrera channel, expect a heavier Guardia Civil and Servicio Marítimo presence at sea and along the coast this weekend, and treat any small, overloaded boat you spot as a call for the 112 emergency line rather than something to approach yourself.

Weather today

Weather today across the Balearics. Expect a hot, mostly cloudy Sunday 6 September 2026: Palma sits between 24 and 33 degrees under an overcast sky with no rain and a light breeze up to 11 km/h, according to Open-Meteo.

Away from the capital the heat climbs a little higher. Open-Meteo puts Calvia and the rest of Mallorca between 24 and 35 degrees, again cloudy and dry, with winds barely reaching 9 km/h, while Maó and the other islands wake to morning fog and range from 23 to 34 degrees with an 8 km/h breeze. With today's maximums around 34 to 35 degrees and almost no wind to cool things down, keep water on you, favour the early morning or the evening for anything active, and stay out of full sun in the middle of the day.

Transport & traffic

No transport or traffic incidents reported at time of publication.

What's changing for you

• Where to find a good-value menu del dia in Palma. The menu del dia, a fixed-price weekday lunch with a starter, main course, drink and dessert, remains the cheapest way to eat well in Palma, a question a newcomer put to the r/mallorca forum this week. The trick is timing and asking for it by name: most bars and family restaurants serve the menu only at lunchtime on weekdays, often from around 1pm, and it is usually the best value on the board even when it is not chalked up outside. Ask for the menú del día (or menú para llevar if you want it as takeaway), check whether bread, coffee and IVA are included, and look for the places full of local workers rather than the tourist strips near the cathedral, that crowd is the most reliable signal you have found a good one.
• A rental warning after 30 people found in one Manacor flat. Police in Manacor found 30 people living in a single 228 square metre property, each paying between 80 and 100 euros a month for a room or a shared space, according to Última Hora and Es Diari (Menorca). The case is a blunt reminder of how tight and how exploited the island's rental market has become: rooms let by the bed, no proper contract, and conditions the authorities classed as substandard housing. If you are hunting for a place, insist on a written rental contract in your name, be wary of any offer that rents you a bed or a shared space rather than a room, and remember that an empadronamiento (town-hall registration) is far harder to obtain, and your rights far weaker, when the arrangement is off the books.

Local news to know

• Yellow heat alert extended into Monday. The archipelago will not cool down as the weekend ends: AEMET has prolonged its yellow warning through Monday, when forecasters expect thermometers to climb to between 36 and 38 degrees, according to the Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera.
• A Mallorcan finishes runner-up at Miss World. Elisabeth Reynés, from Mallorca, ended as first runner-up at the Miss World pageant held in Nha Trang, Vietnam, finishing behind the winner from the Dominican Republic, according to Última Hora.
• Shakira's World Cup anthem passes a billion views. Shakira's 'Dai Dai', the official 2026 World Cup song recorded with Nigeria's Burna Boy, has topped one billion views on YouTube, report Diario de Mallorca and Diario de Ibiza.
• Menorca's Gemma Triay equals a padel record. Gemma Triay, from Alaior in Menorca and world number one on the Premier Padel ranking, has reached 57 career titles, matching Alejandra Salazar as the most decorated player in women's padel, according to Es Diari.

See the full agenda, tonight and tomorrow