The moment migrants land on a packed beach in Spain

Spain has now overtaken Italy as the preferred destination for migrants trying to the reach the European mainland by sea.

Holiday makers looked on as dozens of migrants land on a beach in Spain.

Holiday makers looked on as dozens of migrants land on a beach in Spain. Source: Twitter @diariocadiz

Visitors at a Spanish beach watched on as a boat packed with migrants landed in front of them before dozens of people jumped off and ran away.

Pursued by a police boat, the group, mostly made up of young men, began hurling themselves off the craft as it neared the shore as swimsuit-clad tourists looked on.

The migrants landed on Zahora beach in the province of Cadiz, after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow body of water that separates Morocco from mainland Europe.

The area has become a key route for migrant traffic.



It comes just days after around 30 people stormed another beach near the town of Tarifa, and follows in the wake of warnings from the mayor of the nearby town of Algeciras that the area risked being at the centre of a new migrant crisis.

On Saturday, Spain’s coast guard rescued 334 migrants from 17 dinghies in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea.

They have been placed in temporary accommodation in the southern port town of Barbate, as the country tries to deal with a spike in migration.

Spain has now overtaken Italy as the preferred destination for migrants journeying by sea, with Interior Ministry figures estimating some 17,000 arrivals so far this year – twice the number in the same period as last year.

Meanwhile, debate has raged after newly-installed Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to take in more than 600 migrants aboard a charity ship after they were rejected by Italy and Malta.




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Source: Reuters, SBS



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