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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-SPAIN
Four migrants die trying to reach Spain, several missing
MADRID, Nov 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Four migrants died and more than a dozen
were missing after a packed dinghy ran into trouble while trying to reach
Spain, coastguard officials said Wednesday.
A Spanish coastguard boat managed to save 58 migrants, including three
children, late on Tuesday from the dinghy drifting in the Alboran Sea about
50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla.
The rescued migrants were taken to Melilla along with the bodies of three
men who died during the attempt to reach Spain, a Spanish coastguard
spokeswoman said.
A migrant who had been rescued died shortly after arriving at the port of
Melilla, she added.
The vessel, believed to have been carrying 78 migrants, had departed from
the beach of Charrana in Morocco near Melilla.
A coastguard boat and two planes would on Wednesday search for the 16
migrants who are believed to be missing, the coastguard spokeswoman said.
Images broadcast on Spanish TV showed migrants being transported on a
stretcher into ambulances or huddled on the ground wrapped in gold thermal
blankets.
The coastguard vessel was dispatched to look for the dinghy after receiving
an alert from an NGO.
Spain is a main entry point for migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
More than 27,000 migrants have arrived by land or sea in the country so far
this year — a 50.7 percent drop compared to 2018 when Spain for the first
time surpassed Italy to become the main entry point for migrants arriving in
Europe. Greece is the main destination this year.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1617 hrs