A few days ago 22 immigrants lost their lives attempting to cross to Spain in an open boat after it began drifting. The survivors were picked up by a passing ferry.

Survivors from the RIB, which had set out with 49 passengers,  explained how they had thrown overboard the bodies of those that had died.

A ferry operating between Melilla and Motril, the Vronskiy came across the stricken boat around 13.40h on Tuesday, approximately 11 kilometres to the north of the Cabo Tres Forcas in Morocco. The boat had been drifting with no functioning outboard motor.

According to an ONG activist, these deaths are the direct result of a lack of communication between the Moroccan and Spanish authorities, as the RIB was spotted in Moroccan waters. More specifically, she blamed a lack of commitment by the present socialist government. She concluded that had these people been Europeans, they wouldn’t have perished.

Following the Spanish Government’s new directive, which came into being at the beginning of this year, Spain ceased to carry out SAR missions in Moroccan waters. However, despite assurances by the Moroccan Government that they would take on such operations in their own waters, the resources available to the Royal Moroccan Navy and their Gendarmes are limited and inadequate for these kinds of operations.

Up to the end of last year, Spanish Maritime Rescue carried out SAR missions even when they were in Moroccan waters. The fact is that communications between the respective entities on both sides of the Med were lacking and on several occasions the Moroccan counterparts hadn’t even bothered to respond to the Spanish emergency calls.

For this reason, Spanish vessels and aircraft had been taking up the slack in order to comply with international legislation on the matter. However, this arrangement was cancelled at the beginning of this year.

A third of the 50,000 immigrants rescued by the Spanish during 2018 were rescued in Moroccan waters.

(News: Andalusian Coast)