WATCH: Spectators witness Virgen del Carmen procession on Costa del Sol

LOCALS and visitors to Fuengirola gathered on its promenade for the annual Virgen del Carmen procession yesterday (Tuesday).

Devotees and onlookers watched as the figure of the Virgin Mary in her Carmen representation was carried through the streets of Los Boliches.

It was paraded down the promenade before arriving at the statue of the Virgen del Carmen.

From there devotees carried the figure down the beach and into the sea where boats and spectators waited to follow it.

The Virgen del Carmen procession takes place every July 16 in Spanish coastal towns as well as those elsewhere in the Catholic world. The Virgen is the patron saint of fishermen, sailors and the sea.

It honours a visitation in which the Virgin Mary appeared to the English prior Saint Simon Stock in 1251, according to Catholic tradition.