MADRID, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Maritime Rescue Services confirmed on Monday that over the past weekend they saved more than 200 illegal immigrants, who attempted to make a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and the south coast of Spain.
A total of 208 illegal immigrants were taken off nine dinghies in an area known as the Sea of Alboran and the Straits of Gibraltar, with all of those rescued taken to the Spanish ports of Almeria, Motril, Malaga or Tarifa.
Saturday saw 110 people saved, with the first rescue operation seeing 53 sub-Saharan Africans, including four women, lifted from a dinghy that was close to the Isle of Alboran, which lies between Spain and Morocco.
Sunday began with five Maghrebis rescued in the Straits of Gibraltar and another 34 sub-Saharans lifted to safety from another dinghy close to the Isle of Alboran. The latter were initially spotted by an aircraft operated by the European Frontier Agency.
Last week, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido confirmed that 10,751 undocumented immigrants entered Spain during the first six months of 2017, with 2,189 attempting to make the dangerous sea crossing in June.
