Rescue Efforts Fail to Free Moroccan Navy Vessel Stranded off Spanish Coast

While rescue operations continued on Friday, the Moroccan patrol boat El Kaced, which ran aground in Spanish waters on Thursday, could not be recovered. Several boats and many operators were deployed in the Dique Sur area. More than a dozen people - most wearing life jackets - on board the Moroccan patrol boat continue to work. Two other boats have installed a floating anti-pollution barrier around the vessel, which they have towed from the port of Nador (Morocco), the EFE agency reports.

A Spanish maritime rescue boat, the "Salvamar Mirfak", also went to the scene late in the morning to closely monitor the situation in the Dique Sur area, where the winds and waves were stronger on Thursday, making the work more difficult. After the installation of the protective barrier, in the late morning, the Civil Guard managed to evacuate the Dique Sur. Several passers-by who were observing the progress of the work, and some who had ventured off the road to access the rocky area in order to take photos and record videos, were there. Since Thursday, the Dique Sur has been off-limits. A "temporary and exceptional" measure taken by the authorities.

On Thursday, the Moroccan patrol boat El Kaced ran aground around 10:30 a.m. on the rocks of the Dique Sur, in the south of Melilla. According to maritime sources, the patrol boat may have lost control or its engine during navigation.