Costa Tropical
Three year old amongst passengers on immigrant boat intercepted off Motril
By m.p. - Nov 1, 2009 - 10:12 AM
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The three year old who was travelling on the boat intercepted off Motril - EFE
Three more boats were located attempting to reach the coast of Murcia
The passengers of a patera boat reached port in Motril at around 2.30pm on Saturday after their boat, which was spotted earlier that morning by the crew of a merchant vessel, was located in heavy fog some 30 miles off shore. The 42 passengers included a 3 year old boy and two pregnant women, who were assessed as healthy by Red Cross personnel attending the migrants at the port, but, as a precaution, were transferred to be examined by doctors at the Santa Ana district hospital in Motril.
There were more immigrant arrivals in the Murcia Region over Friday and Saturday, and it’s understood that four of the 42 passengers on the three boats intercepted are juveniles. The two surviving occupants of a patera intercepted off Cartagena last Thursday have meanwhile told police that another passenger was lost overboard when their boat capsized on the first day of their journey to Spain.
It brings the deaths on the journey up to three, after two other migrants travelling on the boat were found to have died when the vessel was located by rescuers.
A further two boats carrying 14 passengers were intercepted off Alicante province on Friday.