Rabat – Morocco’s royal navy rescued 59 sub-Saharan irregular migrants on Monday off the coasts of Al Hoceima, northern Morocco.
The migrants were on board an inflatable boat, a military source told Moroccan state media.
The rescued irregular migrants included 33 women, seven children, and seven babies.
Security services administered first, basic medical assistance after rescuing the group of migrants.
Five women, a child, and two babies were transferred to the Mohammed V Provincial Hospital in Al Hoceima for more medical care.
Hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan and Northern Africa use Morocco as a transit country to reach Europe.
Videos documenting migrants’ risky journey have been going viral online. The motives behind the decision are often linked to economic crisis, poverty, and unemployment in their home countries.
While increasingly fewer migrants succeed to reach European countries, undocumented migration continues to claim hundreds of lives annually.
To combat irregular migration, Morocco has mobilized its land and sea security services to arrest trafficking networks involved in irregular migration.
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Official statistics show that Moroccan police managed to arrest 466 suspects linked to 123 human trafficking networks.
Morocco’s security services also prevented 9,179 candidates for irregular migration from leaving Morocco, according to the 2020 annual report from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN).
The number included 6,162 foreign candidates.
