Shocking moment people smugglers push migrants off their powerboat into fast-moving currents near a Spanish beach before speeding off ‘leaving four youngsters to drown’
- Smugglers can clearly be seen pushing migrants from the boat into the current
This is the sickening moment people smugglers pushed migrants into the fast-flowing currents of a Spanish beach, moments after four young migrants who could not swim drowned after being swept away.
Footage showed the migrants being forced into the choppy waters by the gang aboard a powerful, semi-rigid Zodiac of the kind normally used by drug smugglers.
Their reluctance to enter the water, even with sand in sight, was understandable given the treacherous currents and their fears were compounded by the fact that a larger group had just been left to fend for themselves on another nearby beach where four the water level had sunk. waves.
Survivors said they were threatened with knives and even guns by the traffickers overnight.
Shocking footage showed workers from Spain’s Good Samaritans going to rescue the migrants after seeing them being pushed overboard at around 1pm yesterday.
Footage showed the migrants being forced into the choppy waters by the gang aboard a powerful, semi-rigid Zodiac
This is the sickening moment people smugglers push migrants into fast-flowing currents off a Spanish beach
Migrants desperately swim to shore after being pushed off the boat
Spanish Good Samaritans went to rescue the migrants after seeing them being pushed overboard around 1pm yesterday
Witness Javier Gomez, owner of a water sports company based in the resort of Sancti Petri on the Costa de la Luz, near the city of Cadiz, was among the locals who came to their aid.
“We have never seen anything so disgusting,” he said afterwards, revealing that some migrants lay semi-conscious and face down in the water when he pulled them into a small boat.
Describing the “terrifying” experience as one he would never forget, he told the Spanish press: “One of the survivors told us that they threatened him with a gun and told him: ‘jump or we will shoot a bullet through your head’. .
“Those who were able to talk after we helped them ashore thanked us. They were all young, between fifteen and twenty years old. They said they paid 5,000 euros for the trip.’
The four young people who died lost their lives at Camposoto beach, one of the longest beaches in southern Spain, located on the outskirts of San Fernando – a 20-minute drive from Cadiz.
The footage showing migrants being pushed into the water and swimming in treacherous currents was filmed in a shallow canal known locally as the Cano de Sancti Petri.
Many of those who ended up in the water during the two drops are believed to have been novice swimmers or non-swimmers, and the fact that they were fully clothed also complicated their attempts to reach dry land.
The smugglers on the semi-rigid Zodiac simply rushed away from the scene as the migrants fought for survival in the cold sea.
Three of the survivors were evacuated by ambulance and taken to hospital in Puerto Real near Cadiz with hypothermia.
Police are still hunting the human smugglers, whose nationality is unknown.
They are expected to face criminal charges, including manslaughter, if caught.