Quick action from people who saw this this afternoon Eight of them were thrown overboard from the drug boat. immigrants in an area with dangerous currentsLike the Sancti Petri pipe in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz), it prevented many from drowning.
“We have never seen such a deviation before,” Javier González, director of the company ‘Naútica Gurri’, told EFE. He saved sevenSome are already semi-conscious and face the sea.
These eight Moroccans were traveling on the drug boat 27 more people were thrown from the boat into the sea a few minutes ago At the nearby Camposoto beach in San Fernando. 4 of them were found dead. The crew of the boat, who forced this group to jump from the semi-rigid boat, continued at full speed towards the Sancti Petri canal with three powerful engines. There, they threatened 8 immigrants who were staying on the boat in the area where the current was strong and did not want to jump into the water.
“Someone told us They pointed a gun at him and told him he would either jump or shoot him.“, said Javier González. Another told the Red Cross team that they threatened him with a knife.
By chance, the manager of the company dedicated to providing windsurfing lessons was in the area this afternoon because he had arranged to meet a team to record a video in the area. But he says it will be an afternoon he won’t forget. “It was a very difficult and scary day, but I’m proud to have saved lives,” he says.
He explains that around one o’clock in the afternoon he suddenly saw the drug boat appear in the water at full speed. “I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t have a joint, I was carrying people thrown into the water.”
Knowing the danger of the waters and that many immigrants who arrived by boat did not know how to swim or wore few trousers and jackets, which made it difficult for them to move in the water in winter, he immediately bought a small zodiac. He came ashore and went to save her. “It took me a minute to get to where they were and there were already three people face down in the sea, they didn’t drown because we pulled them out at that moment,” he says.
He managed to land seven of them in two groups with his boat.. The eighth was saved by a boy who jumped into the water to help him, risking his life due to the currents in the area.
Together with other people already in the sand, they brought them blankets and tried to revive them, while they notified 112, which alerted the Civil Guard, National Police, Red Cross and Sea Rescue. “I left them on the ground and left because there were other people taking care of them and I was in shock,” says Javier González. “Those who could speak thanked us, they were all young, between 15 and 20 years old. You can imagine their faces, they were horrified. They said they paid 5,000 euros for this trip.” Three of them had to be taken to Puerto Real hospital.
Civil Guards started an operation to find the drug boat that quickly escaped from the scene. According to eyewitnesses, there were four people in the vehicle, one woman and one man, two Spaniards and two Moroccans.
Of the 31 surviving migrants traveling on the drug boat, 25 are adults and six are minors, according to data from the Government Subdelegation in Cádiz. The bodies of the four deceased people were taken to the Cadiz Forensic Anatomy Center to determine their ages, identities and causes of death.