Simon Hunter
BOATS carrying around 400 migrants have arrived on the coasts of Spain’s Almeria, Granda and Murcia in just a few days. In many cases, holidaymakers on the beaches have raised the alarm with the authorities, who are increasingly concerned about the high number of arrivals.
The mayor of Adra in Almeria, Manuel Cortes, has called on the central government to ramp up monitoring of the coast ‘both by land and by sea’ after dozens of migrants arrived on board speedboats, Spanish daily El Español reported.
The majority of the arrivals seen in recent days are Moroccan or Algerian nationals.
Once on Spanish soil, the migrants are given medical treatment and are then handed over to the authorities.
“Most then head to another country or city if they are not deported by the police, but this doesn’t usually happen,” Red Cross coordinator Francisco Vicente told El Español.
The NGO is not ruling out another major wave of arrivals in the coming days, given the good weather conditions. “It’s something that we can’t predict,” Vicente added.
Read more:
- Spain’s Maritime Rescue service pulls 187 migrants from waters off the Canary Islands’ coasts
- Amnesty International puts death toll from June 2022 border fence storming at 37 with 76 migrants still unaccounted for
- 40% of migrants who lost their lives while traveling to Spain died between 2020 and 2022
