This is the shocking moment when a Civil Guard boat runs over a boat carrying immigrants, throwing its occupants into the water.
In a video recorded on Sunday at Horcas Coloradas beach in Melilla, Spain, a small motor boat apparently carrying four African migrants, including a girl, can be seen being chased by a border crossing boat.
After refusing to heed warnings from the Royal Marine Gendarmerie patrol to stop, the Spanish Civil Guard motorboat veers to the right and runs over the boat.
The migrants’ boat capsized and threw at least one person into the sea. The Government Delegation in Melilla – a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco – has confirmed that there were no injuries. RTVE News information.
Local reports suggest the migrants were attempting to travel from Morocco to Melilla.
Images show the moment when a Spanish Civil Guard boat chases a boat of immigrants
As the migrant boat, carrying four occupants, turns, the border vessel mimics its movements.
Below you can see the Spanish Civil Guard boat passing over the small motor boat.
Melilla and Ceuta, Spain’s other small enclave in North Africa, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, making them a magnet for migrants.
A Moroccan NGO has already requested an investigation, while the Melilla government delegation said that the Civil Guard carried out a “normal procedure” to prevent migrants from reaching the coast.
This comes after dozens of sunbathing holidaymakers watched in shock as 20 suspected migrants disembarked from a boat onto a crowded beach on the Spanish islands earlier this month.
The ship docked in the cove and stopped off the coast of Cala Gran Santanyí, Mallorca, Spain, on Tuesday around 6 p.m.
A video shared on social media showed about 20 people, mostly young men, getting off the boat and dodging beach towels as they walked in single file along the sand.
The Spanish Interior Ministry has also decided not to launch an internal investigation into the boat incident. Public report, which has been widely criticised by left-wing political parties EH Bildu and Sumar.
The Border Patrol maneuver sends at least one of the occupants of the small boat flying into the air
One of the migrants, believed to have been travelling from Morocco, can be seen crashing into the water.
The Melilla Government delegation has confirmed that there were no injuries
The Interior Ministry has confirmed that the four occupants of the boat have already been returned to Morocco.
Sumar deputy spokesperson Aina Vidal described the incident as a “human disaster” and an “unacceptable tragedy.”
“The disaster we have seen in Melilla is totally unacceptable, it is unacceptable, it is a human disaster and, as such, we are certainly waiting for explanations from the competent minister,” he said.
In 2022, a migrant made history by becoming the first documented person to paraglide across Spain’s southern border with Morocco and set foot on European soil.
Two locals driving along the double fence inside the North African enclave of Melilla filmed the shocking scene before calling police.
But the unidentified migrant had already fled when officers arrived and had yet to be found.
That same year, at least 24 people were killed in a stampede as migrants attempted to scale the enclave’s heavily fortified border fence.
Many undocumented migrants arriving in Melilla come from as far away as Sudan and use it as a springboard to reach the European continent after being transferred from overcrowded temporary accommodation centres.
The heavily guarded border between Melilla and Morocco is one of only two land borders between the EU and an African country. The other is Ceuta, which is also a Spanish enclave.
The two parallel border fences in Melilla alongside the road the paraglider was filmed crossing are between 20 and 32 feet high and 7.5 miles long.
In previous attempts by migrants to enter the Spanish enclave, they have hidden inside car bumpers and in specially adapted spaces under passenger seats.
They also risked their lives trying to cross the sea using truck tires.