Maritime Rescue personnel have rescued this Saturday two new boats with 14 and 16 people on board about 30 and 20 miles from the coasts of Santa Pola and Xàbia, respectively. All the rescued migrants appeared to be in good health, according to sources from the Red Cross.
The first of the boats has been located about 30 miles from the Santa Pola Lighthouse. The Red Cross has cared for 14 people, all of them male and of legal age, and they are in good health. The boat has been transferred to the port of Alicante around 06:30.
On the other hand, Maritime Rescue has located another boat with 16 people on board (11 men, a woman, a 5-year-old girl and three young people aged 15, 15 and 16) about 20 miles from the coast of Xàbia. All of them are also in good health.
This is the sixth and seventh vessel that has reached the Alicante coast in the last week, after which it was rescued last Wednesday with 13 people on board between Altea and Calp; another two on Thursday with 15 and 14 people on board 50 and 33 miles off the coast of Alicante, respectively; and two more between last Saturday and Sunday morning: one in Xàbia and another in Vila Joiosa.
Faced with these "small massive arrivals" of small boats on the coasts, the Red Cross teams remain pre-alerted to expedite the care of migrants. The teams include logistics workers, health workers, translators, mediators or psychologists.
After the disappearance of three people after the sinking of a small boat this Thursday, the Consell issued a statement in which it regretted "the innocent deaths", and reiterated its willingness to "fight, within the scope of its powers, against the illegal trafficking of people and against those who protect and favor him".
Likewise, the Minister of Justice and the Interior, Elisa Núñez, from Vox, expressed "the Consell's condemnation of illegal human trafficking" and urged the central government to "stop illegal immigration flows, to promote tougher penalties against mafias and to put an end to the pull-effect policies that take the lives of thousands of people every year".
