The Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil rescued 23 immigrants in a patera (open boat) to the south of La Mamola yesterday morning.

The rescued people, who were all males with no minors amongst them, were first located 20 nautical miles to the south of Polopos-La Mamola around 23.30h on Monday night.

The Guardia Civil despatched their launch, Río Genil to intercept the boat, which they did about 14.5 nautical miles from the coast and by two in the morning the immigrants had been brought into Motril Port.

Thirteen of the passengers were from Bangladesh, six were from Eritrea and four from Senegal.

Editorial comment: it is difficult to imagine the travel conditions and the time taken to reach Spain from Bangladesh, only to be caught under 15 nautical miles from Spain.

(News/Noticias, Polopos-La Mamola, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)