Two girls under 16 were allegedly raped by men on a migrant boat as it sailed to Europe.
They have been taken to the Can Misses Hospital in Ibiza, where they are undergoing treatment as well as tests.
The girls who arrived in Ibiza last Friday in a boat say they both suffered sexual assault by two men they were travelling with.
While their ages have not been confirmed, police say they are minors, therefore under the age of 16.
In the hospital, the corresponding protocol for cases of sexual violence was activated, which mobilised a team of seven agents of the security forces, in addition to the gynaecologist on duty, according to the newspaper Periodico de Ibiza.
Police are keeping the investigation open to clarify the facts. It is expected that in the next few hours, more official information will be provided.
Statements were taken on Saturday from the young women. Maritime Rescue intercepted a total of 29 migrants on Friday afternoon.
The migrants, all of them of sub-Saharan origin, were making the journey to Europe when their boat was detected about 43 miles south of Formentera.
It was the second rescue of boats carried out within a few hours in the waters of Ibiza as the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard rescued another boat 12 miles south of Formentera on Thursday at 9.20 pm. It was carrying 16 people.
The horrific details have emerged just days after it was revealed that at least 50 sub-Saharan Africans were abused and thrown overboard to die by witch doctors.
Others were beaten and tortured during journeys if they dared to complain about the terrible conditions they had to endure during the dangerous sea crossing in tiny boats.
The girls’ alleged ordeal came as they sailed to Europe on a migrant boat. Picture is for illustrative purposes and not of the same boat involved in the incident
This year, a total of 126 boats with 2,094 migrants have arrived in Ibiza and Formentera. Of these, 108 boats and 1,829 people arrived in Formentera, while the rest, 18 boats and 265 migrants, arrived in Ibiza in these almost nine months of 2025.
At the end of 2024, a young woman of Algerian origin reported to the Civil Guard that during the journey to Formentera, she had been raped by the skipper of the boat.
Shortly after, a judge ordered that the alleged aggressor and another occupant of the boat should be held in detention without bail.
One was accused of raping the young minor, while the other was accused of an alleged crime of omission of the duty to help.
The migrant crisis has worsened in the Balearics – the island’s government is now refusing to take in young illegal immigrants.
The archipelago, which includes Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, says it cannot cope with its own problems, such as housing for locals, and is swamped by the migrant crisis.
The Balearics have been ordered by Spain to make provision for up to 400 young migrants and to give them a new life, helping them with jobs and homes.
But the Balearic government is rebelling against the Spanish government’s directive and will refuse to take in the first two young migrants who are currently in a holding camp in the Canaries.
The Balearic Islands will try to stop the arrival of the first two immigrant minors from the Canary Islands.
The central government told Balearic leaders this week about its proposal to transfer the first two immigrant minors from the Canary Islands in application of decree 2/2025 and successive regulations.
However, the Balearic Government has announced its intention to stop this measure.
At a press conference after the meeting of the Governing Council, the first vice-president and spokesman for the regional executive, Antoni Costa, said their objections will be presented within the ten days established.
Europe is still struggling with an influx of migrants arriving on small boats. Picture is for illustrative purposes and not of the same boat involved in the incident
If these do not succeed and Madrid rejects the arguments of the Balearic Islands, it will go to court. ‘We will spare no effort,’ he stressed.
Mr Costa said the directive comes at the worst possible time, when an increase in the arrival of immigrants is expected.
He said: ‘It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that, seeing the situation that is coming to us, we are abandoned by the Government of Spain. Not only abandoned, it insists on sending us more minors. It is an unprecedented situation.’
The Balearic vice-president said that in the last week alone, 18 immigrant minors have arrived in the Balearic Islands and acknowledged that the island councils are in ‘absolute collapse’. ‘I don’t know where they will be welcomed, but we will do our best to receive them with dignity,’ he said.
The spokesman for the Government also criticised the scant information received from the central executive, limited to communicating the proposal for the transfer of two minors without providing further details.
‘We don’t know anything. This is the way of acting of the Government and its delegate in the Balearic Islands,’ he said.
‘We will use all the legal channels in our hands to defend the interests of the Balearic Islands and highlight the dramatic situation we are suffering.’
Secretary of State for Children, Rubén Pérez, has accepted the request of the Minister of Families, Social Welfare and Dependency Care, Sandra Fernández to hold a meeting on October 6.
The objective will be to address the situation of saturation that the reception system is experiencing in the archipelago.
The Balearic Islands have been assigned an ordinary capacity of 406 minors, a figure that the Government considers disproportionate.
According to the regional executive, the rule lacks a clear justification for the criteria applied, generating an ‘opaque and arbitrary’ result that benefits some communities to the detriment of others and violates the constitutional principle of inter-territorial solidarity.
Mr Costa said: ‘We have more than 700 minors in care, ten times more than the places provided by the island service and 300 more than the ordinary capacity that the Government unilaterally set for us. We need help, we cannot be abandoned as is happening, it is a national shame.’
