North African Children Set Out for Europe in Flimsy Boat, Alone

Two red with white stripes lifebuoys on empty sandy beach in sunny day near Mediterranean
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Chris Tomlinson

Eleven Moroccan children were rescued by Spanish authorities near the exclave of Ceuta this week after they attempted to cross the Strait of Gibraltar alone in a small boat.

The 11 children, said to be aged between six and 11 years old, were first seen by a lifeguard on a beach in Ceuta and were intercepted just over half a mile off the North African coast as their small boat was headed toward the Spanish mainland.

According to the lifeguard, who spotted the boat with his binoculars, the boys were using sticks and their hands in an effort to guide the boat toward the Spanish coast, El Mundo reports.

The lifeguard then took a jet ski to meet the boat and alerted the Civil Guard and Maritime Rescue, who collected the young children from the sea.

According to El Mundo, the children set off from Ceuta after several of the children had already been received into the migrant reception system in the city, one of two Spanish exclaves which lie on the North African coast.

The city currently hosts just over 300 unaccompanied minor migrants, some of whom come from neighbouring Morocco, others from a variety of other countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ceuta, which shares a border with Morocco, has seen numerous attempts by illegal immigrants to cross into the city and attempt to claim asylum in Spain in recent years, often violently.

Last year, a group of thousands of migrants stormed the border walls and barriers of the city in a single day, with estimates claiming that over 6,000 migrants were involved in the incident.

Among the migrants who crossed into the city there were allegedly several radical Islamist extremist jihadists, believed to have previously been in Syria.

Spain’s other North African exclave, Melilla, has also been subjected to repeated attempts by illegals to cross into the city. Earlier this year in June, at least 18 migrants died when a mob of 2,000 migrants attacked border guards and attempted to storm the city, at one point causing a deadly stampede.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

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