- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Murcia Today Alicante Today
Date Published: 04/06/2021
ARCHIVED - 82 irregular migrants intercepted in the Strait of Gibraltar off Cadiz
Marine Rescue have been picking up large numbers of irregular migrants trying to reach Cadiz in Andalucia from North Africa in recent weeks.
On June 2 Marine Rescue services intercepted 16 migrants from the sea off Cadiz and a further 15 on the Granada coastline, the flow of migrants to Spain continuing on June 3 with the interception of a further 82 from the Strait of Gibraltar, as the flow of migrants trying to enter Spain illegally from North Africa during the calmer summer months continues.
The migrants were all intercepted on Thursday, June 4 off the coast of Cadiz, with one man found sailing alone and two groups intercepted in two other boats.
The first person intercepted by Marine Rescue was a man sailing in a small inflatable boat around two nautical miles southwest off the coast of Cadiz, who was picked up by officials and later taken to the port of Algeciras.
The Guardia Civil then received a report about a sighting of another boat near Caños de Meca beach, from which 52 Maghreb men were intercepted by the Marine Rescue boat Salvamar Enif and the Rio Ulla patrol boat. The migrants were later taken to the port of Algeciras.
Another boat was later found in the Strait of Gibraltar, containing 29 people of Maghreb origin, including 23 men and six women. The group were also taken to the port of Algeciras after being intercepted by Marine Rescue.
The number of irregular migrants making the dangerous journey from North Africa to Spain often increases during the summer months when the better weather makes the crossings less dangerous.
Officers from Marine Rescue patrol the waters off the coast of Andalucia to intercept the migrants before they are taken onto land to be given PCR tests and any medical attention they need; they are then handed over to immigration.
Attempts will be made to deport all of the migrants, as in the majority of cases, those arriving in this fashion are economic migrants seeking work in Spain.
However, illegal migrants are unable to work legally in Spain, leading to an increase in the number of migrant camps appearing across the country as the "sin papeles" or "those with no papers" attempt to find work illegally in the agricultural sector, living in makeshift shanty camps.
Migrants there live in often cramped and dangerous conditions and there have been three fires within the last two weeks at camps in the Andalucia region, all of them believed to have been started deliberately, two in Huelva and one in Almería, where a fire at one camp destroyed around 100 homes .
Image: Archive. Salvamento Marítimo
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