Suspected illegal migrant washes up dead on Murcia beach
The body of a man has found on the Playa del Hornillo in Águilas, while two pateras have been intercepted off the coast of Cartagena
The lifeless body of a middle-aged man was found this Monday night, April 15, on the shore of the beach of El Hornillo in Águilas, according to sources from the Guardia Civil.
It was at around 10pm when a person who was in the area saw a body floating on the shore of the beach and alerted the emergency services. While the body has yet to be identified, the main hypothesis police are working on is that he was an immigrant who died trying to reach Europe from northern Africa in a small ‘patera’ boat.
Two such boats were intercepted in Cabo de Palos and in Cabo Tiñoso on the same night, with 24 migrants on board.
The occupants of the boats were seen by the Red Cross and subsequently handed over to the National Police in Cartagena to enter the migrant holding centre there, the CATE, to be held for a maximum period of 72 hours.
All migrants who are found arriving in the Region of Murcia by boat are given the possibility to sign up for the reception programme run by the Department of Migrations. Most of them accept this option as it allows them to be placed in accommodation around Spain and receive help from humanitarian organisations.
From then on, they are allowed to move freely around the country. They have not committed any crime that is punishable in a court of law, but have only entered Spain via irregular means, which is viewed as an administrative offence.
Many of the migrants picked up this Monday have expressed their desire to continue their journey to France.
Image: Salvamento Marítimo
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