Marrakech – Two Moroccan women died, and two men were injured, one of them critically, after the car they were traveling in fell into the sea at the port of Algeciras in southern Spain. The four were about to board a ferry bound for Tangier when the vehicle went over the edge of the dock shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
According to Spanish media reports, the accident happened around 12:30 a.m. at the Galera wharf in Algeciras, in the province of Cádiz. The four occupants, all Moroccan nationals residing in the province of Segovia, were traveling in an Audi A4 toward berth number one, which serves the Algeciras-Tangier Med crossing.
The two women who died were mother and daughter, aged 71 and 43. They were seated in the back of the car. In the front were two men, one in his seventies and the other around fifty. The younger woman was the daughter of the elderly couple.
The vehicle had cleared the National Police checkpoint without any problem. Staff from the ferry company then directed the occupants to the waiting area before boarding.
For reasons that remain unclear, the car continued forward after that second stop, moving at a constant speed without accelerating, until it reached the ramp at the edge of the dock and dropped into the water. The ferry had not yet moored at the time.
There was fog in the air, though not enough to severely limit visibility. Investigators are treating the case as a possible accident caused by a driver’s distraction. One police source suggested the driver may have believed the edge of the dock was farther away than it was.
The two men managed to climb out of the vehicle on their own, both injured, with the older man in serious condition. Emergency medical services took them to a hospital. The two women could not escape and were recovered dead from inside the car by Guardia Civil divers from the GEAS special underwater unit.
The car sank within seconds, weighed down by its own weight and the luggage it carried. Maritime Rescue, the Guardia Civil, National Police, Port Police, firefighters, and medical crews all responded to the scene.
By mid-afternoon Wednesday, a crane lifted the submerged vehicle from the bottom of the dock. Berth number one stayed closed to maritime traffic while the operation continued. The investigation into the cause remains open.
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