Tents at the old Son Tous barracks in Palma that were used to house migrants in October 2021. | Pere Bota

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At around 6.30 am on Sunday, the Guardia Civil and the Maritime Safety Agency picked up thirteen migrants from a small boat near to the Cabrera archipelago, 18 other migrants having been intercepted in the same area shortly before midnight on Saturday.

Three other boats, with 41 people in all, were intercepted in Cabrera, Formentera or Mallorca on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The migrants who arrived on Friday - two boats with twenty people - were included in a total of 2,402 (164 boats) for the whole of 2021, over 60% more than in 2020 and getting on for five times as many as in 2019.

In 2020 there were 112 boats with 1,464 migrants; 2019, 41 boats and 507 people.