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ARCHIVED - 16 irregular immigrants rescued from adrift boat off Almeria coast
Those on board were adult males who were attempting to reach the coast of Andalucía
Maritime Rescue services have rescued 16 irregular immigrants from an adrift boat 13 miles south of Cabo de Gata, in the province of Almería.
The authorities received a phone call at 10.37am on Thursday morning (August 5) from a leisure boat stating that they had seen a small boat adrift, the coordination centre in Almería then sent the ‘Salvamar Spica’ to the scene.
The Rescue ship found the immigrant boat at around 12 noon and transported those aboard to the Port of Almería.
The 16 people aboard were all adult males of Maghreb origin and they were all in a good state of health.
The arrival of irregular immigrants has become increasingly common, in both Andalucía, where 80 immigrants were rescued in just 24 hours in June, and Valencia, where five immigrant boats reached the coast of Alicante at the beginning of July.
According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, 2021 reports a 63.2 per cent increase in unauthorized migrants since the previous year, with 14,737 people attempting to illegally enter Spain so far this year (up to July 15).
The majority of the immigrants arrive from Algeria via organized criminal gangs, often paying as much as €2,500 for their passage. It is common for one or more of the people who organised the trip to be onboard the boat to navigate and steer and, in most cases, the irregular immigrants are told to say that the ship is being captained between everyone onboard to avoid revealing those responsible.
IMAGE: Archive
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