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 speed boat 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 local newspaper Ideal: ‘We all stood there staring, not quite knowing what was happening.
‘We thought it was a recreational boat, but when we saw that they started throwing objects into the water and people starting to get out, we realised it wasn’t normal.
‘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
Screen grab 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.
However, some beach goers detained them until the Guardia Civil arrived, with footage showing a man in swimming trunks pinning one of the migrants to the ground.
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.’
The shocking incident in southern Spain comes just weeks after an exhausted migrant was rescued by sailors after trying to cross the perilous Strait of Gibraltar with 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 occupants of the boat dove into the water in front of stunned holidaying families. Pictured: A police officer is seen walking on the beach following the incident
Witnesses branded the scenes as ‘surreal’. In this photograph, 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 onto.
He grabs onto the cord and is pulled by sailors onto the boat and flops onto his 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.
His rescuers, a family from southern Spain who were on their way to the Balearic Islands, initially confused the migrant for a bird or large fish before seeing it was a man in distress.
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 received a record number of migrants who crossed illegally via sea, with more than 61,000 people having arrived on boat. Pictured: A boat carrying migrants in 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.
