Amazing moment boat carrying dozens of African migrants arrives on Spanish beach in front of shocked tourists and scatter before police arrive

  • Clip shows a inflatable boat coming ashore in Cadiz, on southern Spanish coast
  • Group managed to escape from the beach before police arrived at the scene
  • It is believed migrants crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Northern Africa 

By Alex Matthews and Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: 21:05 EDT, 9 August 2017 | Updated: 06:15 EDT, 10 August 2017

A boat carrying dozens of African migrants landed on a Spanish beach in front of shocked holidaymakers.

Footage shows the migrants leaping out of a black inflatable dinghy and dashing across the sand on beaches at Cadiz in southern Spain, after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. 

The group managed to leave from the beach before the authorities arrived some time after.

The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon, with footage showing the boat coming up behind a man and a child taking a dip in the sea.

As the boat pulls into shallow water, those on board leap out and run up the beach. 

One onlooker asks in an astonished voice, 'What's going on?' 

Carlos Sanz, who shot the video while on vacation in Cadiz, said the group quickly vanished and police only arrived some time later.

Spanish officials couldn't immediately be reached after office hours.

New arrivals: A video filmed by a witness show the dinghy pulling into shallow water at Cadiz

New arrivals: A video filmed by a witness show the dinghy pulling into shallow water at Cadiz

Embarking: Some two dozen people, reportedly African migrants, jump off the boat and run onto the beach in front of surprised sunbathers and tourists

Embarking: Some two dozen people, reportedly African migrants, jump off the boat and run onto the beach in front of surprised sunbathers and tourists

Disembarkations by migrants on Spanish beaches are not common but have happened before, especially at Spain's north African enclave cities Melilla and Ceuta, which border Morocco.

Ceuta and Melilla have the EU's only land borders with Africa, and as a result, they are entry points for people desperate to get to Europe.

Migrants regularly try to climb the high double border fences, swim along the coast or hide in vehicles crossing the frontier.

In recent days, migrants have repeatedly stormed the border with Ceuta by either attempting to cut through the wire fencing or running through the border post.

Unexpected: The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon, with the migrants reportedly leaving the beach before Spanish authorities arrived

Unexpected: The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon, with the migrants reportedly leaving the beach before Spanish authorities arrived

The boat came ashore in Cadiz, however it is not known from where the group had travelled

The boat came ashore in Cadiz, however it is not known from where the group had travelled

Once on Spanish soil in Ceuta, they are taken to migrant reception centres where they can apply for asylum.

But many are desperate to get to mainland Spain, believing that the process in Ceuta is slow or fearing that they will be returned to neighbouring Morocco, and try to hide in lorries boarding ferries. 

On Tuesday, Spanish police found 30 Moroccan and Algerian migrants, ten of them minors, hidden in fairground vehicles in the enclave city.

The group had hidden in bumper cars and the ghost train loaded on lorries which were due to leave Ceuta for mainland Spain a after an annual festival.

Agents used heartbeat detectors and dogs to locate the migrants while the vehicles waited to board ferries to the mainland, the Guardia Civil police force said.

'They try to use attractions that are only half covered up to jump in and hide inside,' a spokesman said. 

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