Migrants rescued off Sotogrande after distress call to RGP

Three migrants were rescued from the sea on Sunday afternoon after the Royal Gibraltar Police received an emergency call from a dinghy that was in distress.

The phone call came from a Moroccan number and the individual told the control room there were three individuals on the small vessel, a spokesman for the RGP said.

The GDP, the MOD, the Gibraltar Port Authority and the Salvamento Maritimo all dispatched vessels.

“The Gibraltar Port Authority led a coordinated search and rescue operation, involving GDP, HM Customs and a Royal Navy RHIB, but there was no trace of a vessel within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters,” the RGP spokesman said.

A short while later the passengers once again called the RGP to inform them they had spotted the Salvamento Maritimo’s vessel.

Some two hours later, Salvamento Maritimo confirmed to the RGP that they had rescued the three migrants from an inflatable dinghy, some four nautical miles south east of Sotogrande.

The men went onboard the Salvamar Denebola and were taken to the Port of Algeciras where health checks were carried out, a Salvamento Maritimo spokesman told EFE.

These were three of eight migrants rescued by Salvamento Maritimo at the weekend.