Spain's Civil Guard says police found the bodies of seven migrants in three areas off the country's southeastern coast and officials are not ruling out finding more bodies in the coming hours and days.
The bodies were found off the coasts of Alicante and Murcia.
(AA Archive)
Spanish police have said they found the bodies of seven migrants and asylum seekers they believe may have drowned while trying to reach Spain in a boat.
The bodies were found between Sunday and Monday in waters in three areas off southeastern Spain, the Civil Guard said in a statement on Monday.
Police believe the seven were of north African origin. An investigation was launched into whether they had been in a boat that was found adrift on Saturday with one migrant alive onboard.
The Spanish coast guard rescued the sole migrant some 30 nautical miles off the Alicante coast.
The 21-year-old said he was traveling with a group of around 15 people when their motorless raft flipped over and the other migrants disappeared.
Following investigations, police discovered three bodies – a man, woman and child – on Sunday near the beaches of Pilar de Horadada in Alicante.
The same day, people alerted police to two bodies floating in waters off San Javier in Murcia, while two more bodies were discovered off the coasts of Alicante and Murcia on Monday.
Autopsies are being conducted to determine the cause of death and other details, according to the police.
Officials are not ruling out finding more bodies in the coming hours and days.
READ MORE:UN refugee agency: Food crisis to push displacement levels even higherREAD MORE: Number of internally displaced people worldwide to hit new record in 2022
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC6GgbRB2W8[/embed]
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says "with the efforts of our Coast Guard... we have saved the lives of 41,000 people who were left to die by Greece" in the Aegean sea over the last two years.
Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal pushbacks, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law.
(AA)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Türkiye saved the lives of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers illegally pushed back by Greece.
“With the efforts of our Coast Guard, we have prevented deaths in the Aegean," Erdogan said at a Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy's graduation ceremony in the capital Ankara on Monday.
"In the last two years, we have saved the lives of 41,000 people who were left to die by Greece," he said.
Erdogan said the number of migrants apprehended by the Turkish Coast Guard has reached 245,000, adding Gendarmerie continues its fight against irregular migration and human traffickers.
"If anyone still criticises our defence industry breakthroughs despite the military build-up in Greece, it means they have become deprived of strategic vision," he added.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for migrants and asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.
READ MORE: Greece’s deadly pushback tactics, explained
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKfi4Od7DfI[/embed]
Source: AA
New York City will be converting a famed luxury hotel into a shelter for homeless people and migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., according to a Tuesday report.
The hotel, Row NYC, sits right in Times Square and will have an undisclosed number of floors devoted to the shelter, according to the New York Post. Staffers at the hotel say negotiations are ongoing, but the refit is likely to be done within the next two months.
The city government has leased out nearly a dozen hotels to house the homeless population across the city. Row NYC, which was formerly known as Milford Plaza, is by far the most luxurious of the contracted buildings, however.
New York City has struggled for more than a year under a severe homeless crisis, which migrant bussing has only exacerbated.
New York's Milford Plaza Hotel, which has now been renamed to Row NYC. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Democratic NYC Mayor Eric Adams has blasted Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the bussing program, which has seen Texas send dozens of busses full of migrants to Washington, D.C. and NYC. Abbott argues the policies of those in power in DC and New York are responsible for the ongoing border crisis.
"I already called all my friends in Texas and told them how to cast their votes," Adams said during a press conference last week. "And I am deeply contemplating taking a busload of New Yorkers to go to Texas and do some good old-fashioned door knocking because we have to, for the good of America, we have to get him out of office."
Abbott argues that NYC, a proud sanctuary city, should be capable of housing the border-crossers.
"In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city," Abbott said in a statement on Friday.
"I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief," he added.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday after a second bus full of illegal migrants arrived at his doorstep.
Adams gave a news conference Sunday morning at the Port Authority where he greeted an incoming bus of around 40 migrants — only 14 of whom disembarked in the Big Apple.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, left, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
(Getty Images)
"This is horrific when you think about what the governor is doing," Adams said, noting that many of the arriving families did not realize they were coming to New York City.
"We're finding that some of the families are on the bus that wanted to go to other locations, and they were not allowed to do so," the mayor said. "They were forced on the bus with the understanding that they were going to other locations that they wanted to go to, and when they tried to explain they were not allowed to do so."
His comments follow the first arrival of around 50 migrants at a Port Authority in New York City on Friday. The bus arrived on the orders of Abbott, who has been shipping border-crossers into liberal cities to bring attention to the issue of illegal immigration in his own state.
Adams has accused the governor of using innocent people "as political pawns to manufacture a crisis."
On Sunday, he complained that Abbott’s administration was not giving New York City a proper heads-up when the migrants will be arriving.
"They’re not letting us know when the buses are leaving. They’re not letting us know what are the needs of the people on the bus," Adams said. "They are not giving us any information, so we’re unable to really provide the service to people en route."
Abbott has also been sending illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C., since April to protest the Biden administration’s refusal to act on the border crisis plaguing Texas.
"In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city," Abbott said in a statement on Friday.
He added: "I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief."
Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
Civil protection authorities said that 98 undocumented foreigners were found at the site, including several children.
About a dozen people were reported to have been taken to hospital due to bruises and symptoms of asphyxiation.
(AP)
Nearly 100 migrants traveling in a truck were found abandoned in Mexico, officials said, a month after dozens of people died in similar conditions in the United States.
The migrants were discovered on Wednesday night on a highway in the eastern state of Veracruz, according to authorities, who said the vehicle was headed for the US border.
"They indicated that they were abandoned by the driver," a police report said, without specifying the migrants' nationalities.
Civil protection authorities said that 98 undocumented foreigners were found at the site, including several children.
Around 100 more were believed to have fled, witnesses told Mexican media.
About a dozen people were reported to have been taken to hospital due to bruises and symptoms of asphyxiation.
Illegal migration
Transporting migrants in overcrowded trucks is one of the most dangerous methods used by people smugglers in Mexico.
In June, more than 50 migrants died after they were abandoned in a scorching hot tractor-trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas.
In December, 56 US-bound migrants from Central America were killed and dozens injured when the truck they were traveling in overturned in southern Mexico.
Around 6,430 migrants have died or disappeared en route to the United States since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Of those, 850 were the result of vehicle accidents or linked to hazardous transport, the United Nations agency says.
Boat carrying around 60 people and headed for US state of Florida capsizes, killing 17 people, with some 25 passengers rescued so far, officials say.
Human smugglers are known to use the Bahamas –– a group of islands near the Florida coast –– as a jumping-off point for getting people into US.
(Reuters)
Seventeen suspected Haitian migrants have died in a boat accident off the coast of the Bahamas.
"Rescue teams recovered 17 bodies from the water" –– 15 women, one man and one infant –– a government statement tweeted by Prime Minister Philip Davis said on Sunday.
Another 25 people were rescued and placed in the care of health officials, the statement said. At least one person is still missing, with search missions under way.
Preliminary investigations indicate that a speed boat left New Providence, the most populous island in the Bahamian archipelago, around 1:00 am on Sunday with about 60 people on board. Officials believe the boat was destined for Miami, Florida.
The vessel is believed to have capsized in the rough water, 11 kilometres off the coast of the island.
A multi-agency investigation involving the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Royal Bahamas Defense Force is under way "to determine the full circumstances surrounding a suspected human smuggling operation which has resulted in" the migrant deaths, the statement said.
Human-smuggling operations
Human smugglers are known to use the Bahamas –– a group of islands near the Florida coast –– as a jumping-off point for getting people into the United States, in what can often be a treacherous journey.
In March, the US Coast Guard intercepted 123 people on board a small vessel off Anguilla Cay, in the western Bahamas, and just a few days before, it detained more than 140 people off the coast of Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is facing an acute political, economic and security crisis.
