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Sunday, May 14, 2006
Fifty Volunteers Against An Immigrant Avalanche
There is another side to this ongoing human tragedy, which should have been common sense, but had not been reported, up to now:
InfoIcod report that a total of 380 illegal immigrants, among them 16 minors, have arrived in south Tenerife aboard five cayucos in the last few hours and they are expecting the arrival of a sixth boat with another 76 people on board. This is after 195 immigrants arrived in three boats on Friday. All had embarked from Senegal and none of those on board needed medical attention.
The first boat to arrive in the early hours of Saturday morning, with 71 occupants, was spotted by the Marine Rescue ship, "Punta Salinas" and was escorted into the port of Los Cristianos. The second was again located in the early hours by the patrol boat, "Rio Palma" and had 60 people on board. In the morning, the fishing launch, "Nuevo Juan Santana" sighted the third boat near to the Las Tejitas beach in south east Tenerife. The Marine Rescue ship, "Salvamar Tenerife" and a Civil Guard patrol boat went out and escorted its 81 occupants to Los Cristianos. A marine rescue plane, located the fourth, in which there were 89 people, while it was patrolling the area. The Marine Rescue ship, "Punta Salinas" went out to get them and took them into port in Los Cristianos. A Civil Guard helicopter spotted the fifth boat with 79 people on board and an armed forces ship escorted them to Los Cristianos. A sixth boat was on its way into the same port with 76 people on board, who will arrive in Los Cristianos shortly. The immigrants have been taken aboard the Marine Rescue ship, "Punta Salinas", which had spotted this boatload.
50 Red Cross Workers
Against this incessant avalanche of boats, just over 50 Red Cross volunteers are working practically 24 hours a day to attend the immigrants in the port in Los Cristianos. The Tenerife port has been converted into an operations center to receive these people, mostly from Mauritania and Senegal, according to Austin Taylor, the Red Cross coordinator in the south of Tenerife. The Red Cross have installed a campaign hospital on the quay with necessary medical teams to deal with any emergency.
There are also two other tents belonging to the port authority where the immigrants are given shelter as well as blankets and a bag containing shoes, underwear, trousers, T-Shirts and food or drink.
One piece of hopeful news is that Government delegate in the Canary Islands, José Segura, has announced that joint patrols between Spain and Mauritania will begin functioning this week.
Obviously I have no idea what help the Red Cross might need, but I can't help thinking they could probably do with some. The Red Cross can be contacted in Playa de las Américas: 922 78 07 59 and Los Cristianos: 922 79 05 05.
Their website says that to become a volunteer is as simple as going to the post nearest your residence and asking for the person in charge of volunteers.
No paran de llegar inmigrantes a las costas de Tenerife. Tras la llegada ayer de otros 195. Llegan a las costas de Tenerife cinco cayucos con 380 inmigrantes indocumentados a bordo
