Migrants are always landing on our tourist beach say locals
NINE of the African migrants who landed on a busy Spanish beach have been tracked down – as locals revealed such arrivals were increasingly regular.
About 40 leapt out of an inflatable boat near the shore and sprinted past bemused sunbathers into scrubland on Wednesday.
The incident happened at about 2pm at Playa de los Alemanes – known as Germans Beach – near the popular resort of Tarifa in south Spain.
Last night, locals who witnessed the migrants arriving after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar told the Daily Mail it was just one of at least three landings in the area this week alone.
Maria Perez, 37, who is holidaying in one of the beach-front properties, was near the shore with her children when they saw the boat approaching.
She said there had been at least two more landings at neighbouring beaches this week alone, adding: ‘It is just one of many.’
Describing Wednesday’s scene, she said: ‘It was a surprise, I think the people in the boat were more scared than any of us. They were lying low and hiding until they were close to the beach then suddenly stood up and started running.
‘Some of them went across into the bushes. One guy took off his shirt and tried to pretend he was a sunbather and two other guys hid in the bushes, we saw them two hours later.’
She added: ‘People were more concerned about their welfare and tried to give them water.’
Other witnesses said the man who was driving the motorised boat slashed the dinghy with a knife, sinking it, before fleeing.
Civil Guard sources confirmed an identical boat with around 15 refugees on board reached a nearby area between Playa del Retin and the fishing village of Zahara de los Atunes around the same time. On the beach
‘Concerned about welfare’
near the village the Mail discovered three more discarded boats within a few hundred yards which are believed to have been used by migrants.
The boats, two wooden and one inflatable, contained clothes, shoes and used nappies as well as apples, water containers and a parasol.
The Civil Guard said those that arrived on Wednesday were ‘all Moroccans and were probably initially on a larger vessel which would have been carrying the inflatable boats aboard or towing them behind, dropping them off near the shoreline after crossing from Africa’.
They believed about 40 migrants reached the beach, adding: ‘Nine of those that made it to shore were located in the vicinity, hiding in the countryside behind the coast.
‘All nine are minors, probably aged between 15 to 17. They were handed over to police but placed under the guardianship of the regional Junta de Andalucia government.’
The migrants are believed to have paid mafias between £1,360 and £2,700 each to reach Europe. Experts say they often raise the money with help from their family and neighbours in their home villages, in the hope they will send money back if they manage to stay in Europe and find work.
The numbers of refugees reaching the coast of Spain’s southern region of Andalucia by boat has rocketed in recent months. Officials say the number of minors attended so far this year represents a 60 per cent rise on the same period in 2015 in the region.