Spanish Maritime Rescue services confirmed that they rescued around 200 immigrants and took them to ports in Spain late on Saturday. The news came barely two days after the vessel “Rio Segura” saved the lives of 1,258 immigrants in the largest rescue Spanish Maritime rescue services have ever made in the Mediterranean Sea.
Saturday saw the 200 immigrants lifted off seven different dinghies from different points off the coast of Spain. Some 53 people, all from the Maghreb, were lifted off a boat which was approaching the coast of Murcia and taken to Cartagena. Meanwhile, other operations took place in the Sea of Alboran, which is an area of the Mediterranean midway between the south coast of Spain and the north coast of Africa.
Another 56 immigrants, six of whom were children under four years old, were taken from one dinghy in that area, while a further 32, including 17 women, were saved close to the Island of Alboran after rescue services received a call from an aid worker alerting of their departure from the North-African coast.
In a different operation, some 15 more immigrants were rescued from a dinghy 16 miles off the coast of Almeria before being taken into the port for medical treatment and subsequently being turned over to the Guardia Civil, The current high numbers of immigrants making the crossing is a result of the exceptionally calm weather experienced in the Western Mediterranean at the start of October giving good conditions to make the hazardous voyage.
