After four days of searching for an open boat carrying immigrants, the Coast Guards found them and were told that four passengers had died and been thrown overboard.

The craft was found by the rescue launch, Salvamar Gienah, 30 miles south of Motril with 39 people onboard, all of them suffering from varying degrees of hypothermia, three of whom were transferred to Hospital Santa Ana.

The open boat, with two women and a young child amongst the passengers, had passed through a gale out to sea and suffered very low night temperatures.

Involved in the search were both aircraft and patrol launches belonging to the Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera (SVA) after being detected by the coastal survelliance radar system (SIVE).

All of the immigrants were attended to by Spanish Red Cross volunteers once they had been landed at Motril Port.

Update: One of the hospitalised passengers has since died.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)