Wave of migrants hits coast
‘More mass arrivals may happen in the coming days’
MORE than 500 illegal migrants were detained at the weekend as they tried to enter Spain via the coasts of Alicante province and Murcia region.
The lion’s share of the migrants – a total of 454 – arrived in Murcia on Friday and Saturday, causing political turmoil due to the chaos created.
Opposition politicians accused the authorities of a lack of planning and a shortage of resources to tackle the huge number of arrivals.
All the migrants were tested for coronavirus and at least 14 of them in Murcia were found to be infected, while another 82 had been in close contact with these people.
A judge issued an order that all the infected migrants had to remain in hospital and the others would have to spend two weeks in quarantine in a public facility.
He stated that, if necessary, the migrants could be placed under police surveillance to make sure that they did not flee. Most are Algerian males and arrived on 31 boats, which were detected by the SIVE radar surveillance system.
They were arrested by Guardia Civil sea patrols and the National Police.
The migrants were taken to Escombreras harbour near Cartagena, where they were treated by Red Cross personnel and kept in situ by more than 100 National Police officers from Cartagena, Murcia and Valencia.
Cartagena city hall has asked the government to provide safe shelters for the migrants, using military facilities if necessary, as they suspect there may be more mass arrivals in the coming days.
Alicante province
Six boats arrived at beaches in the province in the early hours of Saturday morning.
A total 79 migrants – including six minors – were detained at Santa Pola, Benidorm, Calpe, Teulada-Moraira and Villajoyosa.
The Red Cross explained that the first of the boats landed in Santa Pola at 00.30 with 16 migrants on board.
‘Several hours later’ a vessel reached Benidorm with 17 migrants.
A spokesman for the regional health department said coronavirus tests were carried out and four of the migrants tested positive.
They have been placed in an isolation ward at Alicante general hospital.
Moraira
Local police officers are in quarantine after intercepting the group of migrants which arrived at a Moraira beach.
One of the group of 12 Algerian people later tested positive for Covid-19, and four Teulada-Moraira officers are selfisolating for two weeks as a precaution.
The small boat and its passengers landed at Portet de Moraira after being escorted to the quay.
All of the occupants were said to be in good health after being given an initial medical examination by members of Jávea Red Cross before being taken to Alicante - where they were given the PCR tests for coronavirus which returned one positive result.