British luxury cruise ship rescues migrants off Spanish coast

A BRITISH luxury cruise ship with 4,000 passengers on board has rescued 10 African migrants off the coast of Spain near Almeria.

The crew of the the P&O Cruises flagship Britannia spotted an inflatable dinghy carrying the migrants at 1am in the morning and immediately performed a U-turn and issued a man overboard announcement to the cruise passengers.

A Spanish coastguard helicopter was sent to pull the migrants out of the water and they were given shelter, food, drink and medical care on board Britannia until a coastguard ship arrived and they were handed over to Spanish authorities. 

Once on dry land the they were attended to by the Spanish Red Cross.

The MV Britannia, named by HM The Queen in March 2015,  resumed its normal cruise itinerary.