This is the dramatic moment around a dozen boat migrants were tackled and detained by tourists after landing on a packed Spanish beach.
The dramatic scenes unfolded on Sotillo Beach in Castell de Ferro, Granada on Sunday afternoon.
Footage shared online shows a speedboat packed with young men arriving at the shore at around 2pm.
The occupants of the boat dive into the water in front of stunned holidaying families and swim to the beach before making a run for it.
Witnesses branded the scenes as ‘surreal’.
Restaurant owner Alberto Garcia told newspaper Ideal: ‘We all stood there staring, not quite knowing what was happening.
“At first, we mistook it for a simple recreational boat, but when objects began being tossed overboard and people started emerging from the vessel, we realized something unusual was happening.”
‘What surprised us most was that the boat was moving very slowly, as if they weren’t in a hurry or afraid.
Dozens of boat migrants were tackled and detained by tourists after landing on a packed Spanish beach
The dramatic scenes unfolded on Sotillo Beach in Castell de Ferro, Granada on Sunday afternoon
Screengrab shows the moment the men, believed to be migrants, jumped out of the boat and into the sea
‘They went in where there were most people, as if nothing had happened, and stopped five metres from the shore.
‘Then they jumped off one by one, and the four remaining on board, some of them hooded, calmly turned around and left.’
Around 13 men, believed to be of Moroccan origin, jumped out of the boat.
According to witnesses, some of the migrants ran along the beach as soon as they reached dry land, while others tried to blend in with the crowd.
Despite the chaos, several beach goers managed to hold the individuals until the Guardia Civil arrived, with video capturing a man in swimwear restraining one of the migrants on the sand.
The Polica Local de Castell de Ferro added: ‘The lifeguards alerted us, and we managed to catch one on the street. Then we helped identify two more.
‘The Civil Guard did the bulk of the work and managed to arrest nine.’
This startling event in southern Spain follows only weeks after a weary migrant was heroically saved by sailors when he attempted to navigate the treacherous Strait of Gibraltar using only flippers and a rubber ring.
Screengrab shows a man, believed to be a migrant from Morocco, running away from a bather who tries to detain him
The boat’s passengers leapt into the sea in front of amazed vacationing families. Pictured: A police officer walks along the beach after the incident.
Witnesses branded the scenes as ‘surreal’. A tourist is seen detaining one of the migrants
Around 13 men, believed to be of Moroccan origin, jumped out of the boat
Bathers and members of the Spanish Civil Guard are seen holding back the disembarked migrants on Sotillo Beach
A man believed to be a migrant is seen being escorted by beachgoers
Witnesses described how some of the men ran across the beach, while others tried to blend in with the crowd
The man, believed to be from Morocco, was spotted by the crew of a passing sailboat around 12 miles off the coast of Malaga last month.
Footage shows a sailor shouting: ‘We have spotted a castaway and we are getting ready to pick him up’, as the man begins to come into view.
The migrant, who is strapped to a rubber ring, is seen swimming towards the vessel, as crew members throw him a rope to hold on to.
He grabs the cord and is pulled by sailors on to the boat. He then flops back motionless with a pained expression on his face.
One passenger says: ‘Water, water’, as he pats the migrant on the back as he tells him, ‘Don’t worry’.
After plucking the man from the sea, the sailors brought him a change of clothes, a blanket, water and some food.
The rescuers, a family traveling from southern Spain to the Balearic Islands, initially mistook the migrant for a bird or large fish, only to discover it was a man in need.
The family contacted coastguard, who mobilised a vessel to collect the migrant from the sailboat before transferring him to the port of Malaga.
The men were later detained were later detained by the Spanish Civil Guard
Scenes show how police took away the men believed to be migrants after tourists tackled and detained them
In 2024, Spain saw a record influx of migrants entering illegally by sea, with over 61,000 arriving by boat. Pictured: A boat carrying migrants traverses the Strait of Gibraltar.
Another report recorded the deaths of nearly 2,000 migrants trying to reach Spain by sea from Africa in the first five months of this year
PICTURED: Migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue vessel in the Port of Arguineguin on the Canary Island of Gran Canaria, on July 10, 2023
The Strait of Gibraltar separates North Africa from Europe and it is a common route used by scores of illegal immigrants to reach Spain.
In 2024, Spain received a record number of migrants who crossed illegally via sea, with more than 61,000 people having arrived on boat.
In a recently published report, an organisation called Caminando Fronteras said it had recorded the deaths of nearly 2,000 migrants trying to reach Spain by sea from Africa in the first five months of this year.
Fifty-two of those had been making the Strait of Gibraltar crossing, the group said as it revealed the deadliest route was the one from Western Africa to the Canary Islands.
Of the 1,865 people recorded as dead or missing, it said 112 were women and 342 children.
Caminando Fronteras also revealed 38 boats had disappeared with all people on board between the start of January and end of May 2025.
