Spanish and Moroccan coast guards rescue more than 100 migrants in Mediterranean

By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 14 Jun 2019 • 12:06

PICKED UP: The migrants were found in the Alboran Sea. CREDIT: Salvamento Maritimo, via Twitter

COAST GUARDS have rescued more than 100 migrants from two boats in the Alboran Sea this week, according to an NGO.

The Caminando Foundation said they were alerted to the 111 migrants by their families. The NGO then informed authorities and Spain’s Salvamento Maritimo dispatched rescue boats and helicopters to pick them up.

The people aboard the boats were found in rough seas and were sailing in bad weather, a coast guard spokesperson said.

Migrant rights activist Helena Maleno Garzon said she was told three people had gone missing from one boat which carried 53 people.

Those aboard the boat were taken to the port of Motril in Granada Province, Andalucia. The 58 migrants in the other boat returned to Morocco by its own means, according to the Caminando Foundation.

It comes as at least 8,523 people have arrived in Spain after crossing the Western Mediterranean migration route so far this year, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures show.