A BRIT couple on holiday in Spain said they’re never coming back after being “traumatised” when dozens of illegal migrants stormed their beach.
Francis Kinnon, 65, was celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife at the popular resort of Nerja, in Costa del Sol, when chaos unfolded.
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Francis recounted how a speedboat, packed with around 30 people dressed in black clothing, approached the beach.
He said that although boats were common in the area, this particular vessel stirred alarm when it sped past the safety buoys and headed directly towards the shore.
Video shot by the Brit shows the boat coming closer as shocked holidaymakers watched several men jump into the water.
Francis, who works in finance, told The Sun: “Obviously, you think the worst because it was just coming towards the beach. It wasn’t stopping.”
With beachgoers already in the water, the scene grew more chaotic as the boat stopped, and its passengers leaped onto the sand, screaming and shouting.
“As soon as these guys dived off the boat, the boat just turned and sped off,” the Brit added.
Many onlookers, including Francis’ wife, were left in shock, he said.
The migrants quickly shed their black clothing, discarding it on the beach before disappearing into various directions.
The swift and erratic nature of the encounter frightened the couple, who initially feared a different scenario unfolding.
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“They were holding black things above their heads. We thought the worst,” he said, noting that they did not realise these were migrants until the group began fleeing.
When asked if the incident affected their holiday, Francis confirmed that it had shaken them. His wife, in particular, was deeply upset and is unlikely to return to the same beach or even mainland Spain in the future.
Francis said: “Once you experience something like that, we’ve said that we won’t come back to this resort or mainland Spain for that reason.”
The couple is set to fly back to the UK on Sunday, but won’t be going to the beach until then.
The surreal scenes played out on Thursday afternoon just before 5pm at El Chucho beach in the popular resort of Nerja, east of Malaga.
They were holding black things above their heads, we thought the worst
Francis Kinnon
Police confirmed later in the afternoon after mounting an operation to track them down that they had managed to intercept 33 of the migrants.
They are understood to have included six minors.
Some had managed to walk more than nearly two miles to another beach in the neighbouring municipality of Torrox when they were located.
The search for the handful of other migrants was continuing today.
The boat they reached Spain on had left Morocco’s Rif region, home to Mediterranean beaches and stunning mountain villages, yesterday morning.
Well-placed sources said they believed 36 males had been on board.
The intercepted adults were taken to a police station in Nerja before being transferred to a Temporary Foreign Attention Centre in Malaga Port.
Meanwhile, efforts begin to send them back to their countries of origin.
Yesterday’s mass arrival was a near-repeat of dramatic scenes in August at a packed beach in Majorca.
Some 20 young men stepped over stunned tourists as they walked between their towels after jumping off a small boat at Cala Gran in Santanyi.
They were reportedly all Algerians who had made the perilous 170-mile journey from their homeland.
Four migrant boats had already reached the Balearic Islands earlier the same day on August 13, three of them in the paradise destination of Formentera, off Ibiza.
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