No 985 Monday 21st - Sunday 27th August 2023
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Now in our 20th year of keeping people safe and informed - The Costa Blanca’s oldest ‘FREE’ English language newspaper
RESCUED AFTER 18 HOURS IN SEA
SEE PAGE 5
ourteen people were rescued on Thursday morning after they were found by a fishing boat off the coast of Torrevieja. They had been in the water since Wednesday afternoon, wearing lifejackets, since Wednesday and included a woman, a seven-year-old girl and a young baby, who was placed in the remains of a petrol can.
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The boat in which they were traveling capsized on Wednesday and, when rescued, they had been floating in the open sea for nearly 18 hours. The fourteen were all Algerian nationals and were transferred to the port of Alicante after they had suffered the rigors of the heat wave during the day and the night bobbing about in the sea. Although yet to be confirmed, it is thought that there could be at least two other deaths and a missing person. The rescued people included ten men, a woman, a sevenyear-old girl and a two-month-old baby who are now being treated not only for burns, but also for jellyfish stings. Red Cross sources said that some have burns were caused by the mixture of sea saltpeter and diesel. This was the second boat to be rescued at sea on Thursday, as fifteen people from another boat were located first thing in the morning, at about 6:30 a.m. just a few miles off the coast of Torrevieja. The alert of the shipwrecked boat was given by a fishing vessel on Thursday noon after it spotted a number of people floating in the sea. The fishing boat ‘Nuevo Joaquina Antonio’ found them 45 miles southwest of Alicante, immediately notifying the Emergency Services that they had people in sight in the water.
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