4 irregular migrants drown off Spain's Cadiz

By Senhan Bolelli

MADRID (AA) — Four irregular migrants drowned off the coast of Cadiz in southern Spain after being pushed overboard by human traffickers, local authorities said on Thursday.

Of the migrants, brought from Morocco on a speedboat, 23 survived after the traffickers pushed them into the water near San Fernando on Wednesday, managing to swim to the shore, while the human traffickers fled the scene.

Videos published by media outlets showed that some of migrants voluntarily leaping into the sea, while those thought not to know how to swim followed at knifepoint.

Four survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia, according to the Spanish Red Cross.

* Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara