Shocking moment: People smugglers push migrants off motorboat into rip currents near Spanish beach before speeding away… minutes after four youngsters ‘drowned’

This is the sickening moment people smugglers pushed migrants into the fast-moving currents of a Spanish beach and fled – minutes after leaving four North African teenagers nearby to drown.

Footage shows the group being forced by the gang into a channel of choppy waters at Sancti Petri, near the city of Cadiz, aboard a high-powered, semi-rigid Zodiac – a vessel normally used by drug smugglers.

Survivors last night said they were threatened with knives and even guns by the smugglers so they could jump into the icy and treacherous waters.

At 1pm yesterday, Spanish Good Samaritan workers rushed to rescue the migrants, believed to be Moroccans.

It came after A A larger group was recently abandoned on the beach in Camposoto, one of the longest in southern Spain and a 20-minute drive from Cádiz, where four young migrants who could not swim drowned.

The gang was aboard a powerful, semi-rigid Zodiac typically used by drug smugglers

Migrants, believed to be Moroccans, desperately swim to shore after being pushed off the boat

Spanish Good Samaritans care for the migrants after rescuing them from rough waters

Witness and rescuer Javier Gomez, owner of a water sports company in the resort of Costa de la Luz, said: “We have never seen anything so disgusting.”

He added that some migrants were semi-conscious and lying face down in the water when he pulled them into a small boat.

Describing the “terrifying” experience as one he will never forget, he told the Spanish press: “One of the survivors told us that they threatened him with a gun and told him: ‘Jump , otherwise we’ll shoot you.’ a bullet through the head.”

“Those who were able to speak after we helped them ashore thanked us. They were all young, between fifteen and twenty years old. They said they paid 5,000 euros for the trip.’

Many of those who ended up in the water during the two drops are believed to be novice swimmers or non-swimmers. They were also fully clothed, which would have made it more difficult to get to land.

The smugglers simply left the scene while the migrants fought against the current.

Three of the survivors were evacuated by ambulance and taken with hypothermia to the hospital in Puerto Real near Cadiz.

The police are still hunting the people smugglers, whose nationality is unknown.

If caught, they are expected to face criminal charges up to and including manslaughter.

Cadiz is located at the southernmost point of Spain, about 20 km from the North African coast.

Despite its proximity, the Cadiz area is not a common destination for migration routes from the Maghreb, as it is located on the Atlantic coast, where sea conditions are more complicated and there is a lot of surveillance in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Three of the survivors were evacuated by ambulance and taken to the hospital in Puerto Real

However, Spain remains one of the main entry points for migrants to Europe, particularly via the western Mediterranean, with boats departing from Morocco and Algeria.

According to the latest figures from the Spanish Interior Ministry, more than 13,000 such migrants arrived on the Spanish mainland or the Balearic Islands between January 1 and November 15, 11.5 percent more than in the same period last year.

According to the European agency Frontex, Moroccans make up almost half of the people on this migration route.