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Boat carrying 50 migrants, including 15 minors, intercepted off Águilas
This is the fourth such arrival on this stretch of Murcia coast in recent weeks
A boat carrying around 50 people, including 15 minors, was intercepted off the coast of Águilas early on Wednesday morning, July 15. The group came ashore at playa de Rambla Elena in the Marina de Cope area, where they were met by emergency services.
Those on board received medical assistance from the Red Cross before being taken into custody by the Security Forces. They were then transferred to a Temporary Foreigners' Detention Centre and handed over to the National Police.
It's the latest in a string of similar arrivals along this stretch of coastline in recent weeks. Just days earlier, on Saturday, a boat carrying 40 people reached El Sombrerico beach, with beachgoers on the scene filming its arrival.
Before that, on July 1, a boat carrying 24 migrants landed at the same beach, with one person injured by the vessel's propeller, while the Guardia Civil intercepted a separate boat carrying another 40 people at El Sombrerico shortly after.
The recent arrivals come not long after a suspected criminal network accused of smuggling migrants into Spain using high-speed boats was dismantled following a joint operation between Spanish and European authorities. Led by the National Police and the Guardia Civil, with support from Europol and French police, the operation resulted in seven arrests, six of them in Alicante and one further arrest in Marseille.
The group is believed to have organised irregular crossings from North Africa to Spain's southeastern coast, focusing mainly on the Region of Murcia, Almería and Alicante, using fast inflatable boats fitted with powerful engines.
Image: @salvamentogob
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