We're so wrapped up in what restrictions there are; what we can do and what we can't, that erstwhile items of news of importance have disappeared.

Items such as desperate people risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean in open boats in order to start a better life and send money home to their families have become few and far between.

The Spanish know how it feels to leave your loved ones, friends and family and go to a foreign country; a foreign culture, to make a meagre living but one that allows you to help your family back home.

A generation of Spaniards did that but now many have forgotten how that felt when they see immigrants from Africa, desperate for any kind of job in order to send those much needed funds back to put food on the table and to put Hope on the mantelpiece together with the family photos,

Yesterday saw 23 such hopefuls arrive off the Spanish coast after crossing over the Mar de Alborán and busy shipping lanes. Thirteen were landed in Almería, Five in Algerciras and another five in Motril.

It was around 10.00h Sunday morning that 13 passengers in an open boat – 11 men, one woman and a minor –  were picked up out to sea and taken to Almería Port. Five Magrebi men (North-West Africans) arrived in the early hours at Motril Port, too. They had been picked up by the Guardia Civil after finding them adrift some way out.

Furthermore, Salvamento Marítimo received a call from an NGO based in Tangiers to say that an open boat had just set off for Spain around 11.40h on Saturday. The Guardia found them trying to stay afloat in the water after their RIB had sprung a puncture and capsized. They were taken to Algeciras Port.

(News: Andalucia)