A body located on November 13 in the waters near the cape of Barbaria brought to more than 30 the number of bodies recovered in Ibiza and Formentera so far in 2025, all linked to illegal immigration.
These are people who tried to reach the Balearic coasts in different boats from Algeria and who died at sea before reaching their destination.
The last body, found at 4:30 p.m. at a point in the sea along the migratory route to Ibiza and Formentera, was missing one arm and part of the other, and could have been in the water for two months, according to the Judicial Police inspection.
This is the twelfth such finding in 2025 in Formentera, a particularly tragic year for the migratory route to the Balearic Islands. However, in Ibiza, that number doubles.
A growing list
The chronology of the findings in Formentera reflects a worrying escalation of deaths at sea. The last body was located on October 3. Earlier, on September 10, skeletal remains were found in Es Marí. In summer, on June 3, a corpse was recovered in Levante, and on May 30, another in Es Mal Pas. On March 6, a body was found on a beach in Levante and in February, on the 2nd, another body was found in s’Alga (s’Espalmador).
In January three bodies were located in just one week: two on the 7th and one on the 15th, the latter in sa Torreta. In addition, the Guardia Civil investigated the appearance of at least 5 bodies that appeared in dribs and drabs tied hand and foot on the coasts near the island of Formentera.
In the same month, the Guardia Civil recovered three other bodies in the sea, in areas farther away from Formentera.
Meanwhile, another undetermined number of immigrant bodies were found in Ibiza. At the beginning of October, a body in an advanced state of decomposition was recovered floating in the waters off Ibiza, about 2 miles from the bay of Talamanca.
While a few days later a corpse was sighted floating in the Mediterranean by the passenger ship Fantastic, of the Italian company GNV, which covers the route Sete (France) – Algiers (Algeria). The finding was communicated to the Spanish and Algerian authorities, as explained by activist Francisco José Clemente Martín, known for his monitoring of the small boats arriving in Spain through his Facebook posts.
On September 18, following a call to 112, a corpse was rescued in the sea, in the municipality of Sant Josep, between Sa Caleta and sa Punta des Jondal.
During June, in just one week, eight bodies were found in the sea off Ibiza. These people had set sail in a skiff with 15 people on board on May 28 from Tipasa, on the Algerian coast.
At that point in the year, 19 bodies had already been found in the first six months of 2025.
Mostly young men from Algeria.
Although the identities of most of the victims have not been disclosed, all of the corpses are of Algerian origin. Autopsies, mostly performed in Ibiza, suggest prolonged exposure to the sea and advanced deterioration of the bodies, making identification difficult.
In the last case, a lower limb found on November 17 was buried next to the body of the 13th, in the cemetery of Sant Francesc, as confirmed by Diario de Ibiza.
Dangerous route to the Balearic Islands
The recovered bodies are evidence of the dangerousness of the maritime route between Algeria and the Pitiusas, where precarious boats are often shipwrecked.
Formentera, due to its geographic proximity to this route, has become a common place for corpses to be found.
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While Ibiza and Formentera are saturated with pateras, another area of Spain celebrates a sharp drop in migratory flows
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Spain alerts and Algeria rescues a drifting patera that had been adrift for days
