Alex Trelinski
AROUND 230 migrants- mainly from Senegal- who landed in the Canary Islands are being accommodated in a Guardamar del Segura hotel on the southern Costa Blanca.
The migrants were transferred to the mainland after their perilous boat journeys from Africa to the Canaries.
They are now staying at the four-star Parquemar hotel described online ‘as being next to the beach in a privileged location’.
The new guests are being helped by the Cruz Roja and the CEPAIM foundation.
A deal for the accommodation has been struck by the Spanish government and the hotel owner, with an expiration date of December 31.
The hotel receives €40 per person per day, funded by the Ministry of the Interior, and would have been empty during the ‘low season’.
Around 9,000 migrants arrived in the Canaries in October putting pressure on the authorities to look after them, with a decision taken to move the arrivals to the mainland.
The Guardamar contingent consists of young men, with no women or children.
The only restriction they have is that they cannot enter or exit the Parquemar after 10.00pm.
Guardamar’s PSOE mayor, Jose Luiz Saez, said he knew nothing about the government’s decision to house migrants in the city until they started arriving and he regretted the lack of notice.
“I want to make it clear though that we will do everything in our power to help them like getting injections at the health centre,” he emphasised.
The new arrivals spend the day close to the hotel or the nearby Reina Sofia park where they play sports like basketball.
Most of the Senegalese nationals appear to have families in France and Belgium, and they may be end up there, according to Jose Luiz Saez.
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