This is the moment a shocked British tourist searching for dolphins spots migrants stranded on a small boat off the coast of Spain.
The cruise ship was sailing about 50 miles south of Marbella when the concerned passenger spotted the migrants calling for help on Thursday afternoon.
The cruise ship’s captain alerted Spanish authorities, who rescued the small boat, which was carrying around eight people, at around 4:30 p.m. local time.
The passenger, who asked to remain anonymous, told MailOnline: “I saw the boat about a mile from the cruise ship.
‘I was looking for dolphins with my camera as my daughter had seen them before when we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar.
A Briton at a cruise shop sees migrants on a small boat off the coast of Marbella
Spanish authorities rushed to rescue the small boat that was stranded and was carrying people asking for help.
‘The ship’s crew did an excellent job of stopping the ship at the distance we had. The deck crew also showed concern.
‘Everyone was on the balconies and seemed worried about the people on the boat.
“The captain kept us all informed every 15 minutes, which was really good.”
He added that a couple of other vessels in the area, including a ferry, arrived to assist the stranded small boat.
In total, the cruise ship was on hold for approximately one hour and forty minutes while the rescue took place.
This comes as Spain faces an unprecedented migration crisis and the president of the Balearic Islands warned last month that the holiday focus is at its limit.
Marga Prohens’ comments came after the Spanish central government announced it was studying the possibility of distributing unaccompanied minors arriving in the country among the autonomous communities.
The idea behind the plan is to provide relief to areas of Spain that receive the most migrants, particularly the Canary Islands, where most small boats are intercepted.
However, Ms Prohens said the Balearic Islands were “at their limit because centres for minors are operating at 650 per cent overcapacity”.
In July last year, Spanish coastguards rescued 86 people from a migrant boat off the coast of the Canary Islands.
The cruise ship’s captain alerted Spanish authorities, who guided the small boat (pictured), carrying about eight people, to shore at around 4:30 p.m. local time.
Pictured: The Spanish Coast Guard heads to rescue the small boat.
Pictured: The small boat ran aground about 50 miles off the coast of Marbella in southern Spain.
Pictured: The Spanish Coast Guard heads to rescue the small boat.
The ship was spotted 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) southwest of the islands.
Among those rescued were 80 men and six women from sub-Saharan Africa, but the exact departure point of the boat is unknown.
An estimated 15,682 people arrived illegally in the Canary Islands in 2022, according to Spain’s Ministry of the Interior.
That same year, at least 559 people died at sea trying to reach Spanish territory, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
In the UK, Home Office statistics this week show there were 114 small boat arrivals on Monday, following 267 over the weekend.
This means that 3,710 migrants have arrived in Britain since the beginning of July, not including the unconfirmed number of arrivals from earlier this week.
The total since the beginning of the year has reached 17,284, 15 percent more than in the same period last year.
