172 immigrants saved by Spanish maritime services

Spanish Maritime Rescue Services confirmed on Saturday that over the past 24 hours they have rescued 172 immigrants who were attempting to make the dangerous sea crossing between North Africa and Spain.

The 172 immigrants were rescued from 11 rubber dinghies. Rescue services confirmed that 56 of the rescued are minors.

Nine of the dinghies were intercepted off the coast of the region of Murcia in the southeast corner of Spain and around 100 people were taken to the port of Cartagena, where the Red Cross confirmed that five people needed treatment and two were taken to hospital.

The rescues in the recent hours means that almost 300 immigrants have reached the Murcia region in the past week, which is by far the highest number experienced in the area as immigrants and people traffickers attempt to take advantage of the unseasonably warm, dry and calm weather over Spain and North Africa.

Meanwhile, 72 more immigrants who were rescued from two dinghies in the early hours of Saturday in the Straits of Gibraltar, were taken to the port of Barbate, close to Cadiz in the southwest of Spain.

This means Spanish Maritime Rescue services have saved over 800 immigrants in the two weeks since the start of October