Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
Guardia Civil officers intercepted six Moroccan migrants in the Strait of Gibraltar after spotting three kayaks heading towards the Cádiz coast from the waters off Ceuta.
The men, all adults, were detected by the Maritime Service on Saturday and stopped before they could complete the crossing, according to the official account cited by local reports.
The interception came during a separate operation from an earlier rescue in which another six migrants had to be pulled to safety after their boat capsized in the north bay of Ceuta, near Calamocarro.
Two operations in the same waters
In the first incident, the vessel was reported to have overturned shortly after leaving the Ceuta shoreline with eight people on board. Six of them needed direct help from the Guardia Civil to complete the rescue, while all were reported to be in good health afterwards.
In the second operation, officers identified the kayaks after noticing suspicious movement near the north coast of Ceuta. The three craft were located while travelling towards Cádiz, with two people in each kayak.
Reports said the migrants involved in both incidents had entered Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, during the mass arrival across the Tarajal frontier breakwater. The latest interceptions add to a run of small-boat attempts to leave the city by sea and reach the Andalusian coast.
Risky route across the Strait
The Strait remains one of the most hazardous routes used by migrants trying to enter mainland Spain irregularly. In this case, the kayaks and the overloaded boat were both stopped before reaching the open coast.
For the Guardia Civil, the two operations underline how varied and improvised these crossings have become, with migrants using everything from fragile inflatable craft to kayaks in an attempt to make the journey across to the mainland.
