Spanish and Moroccan authorities working together have intercepted two boats, one of them on the point of sinking, carrying 93 illegal immigrants. They have also recovered at least three bodies.
The two boats had set out from Betoya and were still in Moroccan waters when one of them was spotted by an Italian plane, part of the INDALO monitoring system in operation in the Mediterranean.
A Moroccan patrol boat out of Rabat was the first on the scene and carried out the rescue of 52 people and also located one body.
It was known that a second boat had set sail from Morocco and a further search resulted in the location of the second boat by the Guardia Civil vessel ‘Río Miño’. There were 41 people on board the second vessel. Two more bodies were also located.
The passengers from the second boat were later transferred to another Moroccan vessel for transport back to Morocco.