Moment Spanish police boat chases down and runs over ‘migrant dinghy’
- Footage of the boats was recorded on Horcas Coloradas beach in Melilla, Spain
This is the shocking moment a Spanish Civil Guard police boat runs over a migrant dinghy, sending its occupants flying into the water.
In a video taken on Horcas Coloradas beach on Sunday in Melilla, Spain, a small motorboat carrying a suspected four African migrants – including a girl – can be seen being pursued by a border vessel.
After refusing to comply with warnings from the Royal Marine Gendarmerie patrol to stop, the Spanish Civil Guard violently steers to the right, driving over the top of the dinghy.
It causes the migrant’s boat to capsize, throwing at least one person into the sea. The Government Delegation in Melilla has since confirmed no one was injured, RTVE Noticias reports.
Local reports suggest the migrants were attempting to travel from Morocco to Melilla.
Footage shows the moment a Spanish Civil Guard police boat races after a migrant boat
As the migrant dinghy – carrying four occupants – turns, the border vessel matches its movements
The Spanish Civil Guard boat can then be seen driving over the top of the small motorboat
A Moroccan NGO has already requested an investigation, while the Melilla government delegation maintained the Civil Guard carried out a ‘normal procedure’ to prevent the arrival of migrants to the coast.
It comes after dozens of sunbathing tourists watched in shock as 20 suspected migrants disembarked from a dinghy onto a packed beach in the Spanish islands earlier this month.
The vessel pulled into the cove and stopped on the shoreline in Cala Gran Santanyí, Mallorca, Spain, on Tuesday around 6pm.
Video shared on social media shows how roughly 20 people – mostly young men – got off the boat and dodged beach towels as they walked in single file across the sand.
The Ministry of the Interior for Spain has also decided not to launch an internal investigation into the boating incident, Public report, which has been widely criticised by left-wing political parties EH Bildu and Sumar.
The maneuver by the border patrol sends at least one of the small boat’s occupants flying into the air
One of the migrants, who are believed to have been travelling from Morocco, can be seen crashing into the water
The Melilla government delegation has confirmed that no one was injured
The Interior Ministry has confirmed the four occupants of the boat have already been returned to Morocco.
Sumar’s deputy spokesperso Aina Vidal described the incident as a ‘human disaster’ and ‘unacceptable tragedy’.
‘The disaster we have seen in Melilla is totally unacceptable, it is unacceptable, it is a human disaster and, as such, we are undoubtedly waiting for explanations from the competent minister,’ he said.
