- The boat arrived at El Chucho beach in the town of Nerja after setting sail from Morocco
This is the shocking moment around 40 North African migrants jump from a speedboat onto a beach on the Costa del Sol in front of tourists relaxing on the sand.
Shocked tourists sat on their deckchairs as the small boat approached the shore and the men disembarked before running or walking alongside them.
Their dark, scruffy clothes instantly distinguish them from the tourists looking to tan in the 21-degree Celsius heat in bikinis and swimming trunks.
The surreal scenes occurred yesterday afternoon shortly before 5pm on El Chucho beach in the popular tourist resort of Nerja east of Malaga.
Police confirmed in the afternoon, after mounting an operation to locate them, that they had managed to intercept 33 of the migrants, among whom there are believed to be six minors.
The surreal scenes occurred yesterday afternoon shortly before 5pm on El Chucho beach in the popular resort of Nerja east of Malaga.
Shocked tourists sat on their deckchairs as the small boat approached the shore and the men disembarked before running or walking alongside them.
Some had managed to walk more than two miles to another beach in the neighbouring municipality of Torrox when they were located.
The search for a handful of other migrants continued today.
The boat that brought them to Spain had left yesterday morning from the Rif region of Morocco, home to Mediterranean beaches and stunning mountain villages.
Informed sources said they believed there were 36 men on board.
The intercepted adults were taken to a police station in Nerja before being transferred to a Temporary Assistance Centre for Foreigners in the Port of Malaga (CATE) while the steps to repatriate them to their countries of origin are initiated.
Three weeks ago, about 20 migrants in a similar boat managed to reach another beach in Nerja called El Playazo.
Yesterday’s mass arrival was almost a repeat of the dramatic scenes that occurred in August on a crowded beach in Mallorca.
Then, around twenty men, mostly young, ran over stunned tourists who were walking among their towels after jumping from a small boat in Cala Gran in Santanyí, in the southeast of the tourist island.
The boat on which they arrived in Spain had left the Rif region of Morocco yesterday morning.
It is estimated that around 40 migrants had disembarked from the boat that arrived in Nerja yesterday.
They were all Algerians who had made the dangerous 170-mile journey from their homeland.
Four boats carrying migrants had already arrived in the Balearic Islands that same day, 13 August, three of them heading to the paradise destination of Formentera, opposite Ibiza.
Although it was widely estimated that around 40 migrants had disembarked from the boat which arrived in Nerja yesterday, the region’s far-right VOX party claimed the number had been more than 100 and said they had arrived on two boats.
In an incendiary tweet posted on his official X account late yesterday, criticising Spain’s right-wing Popular Party as well as the ruling left-wing PSOE party: ‘Two boats full of illegal immigrants (over 100) have arrived in Nerja today.
‘Look how calmly they invade our country. They know they won’t be expelled.
‘This is what the PP and PSOE have caused with their policies.’