African refugees arrive at Spanish nudist beach

MADRID – Two worlds collided as a raft carrying 42 destitute Africans – bundled up for a chilly, wind-swept crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar – washed up on a nudist beach in southern Spain, officials said this week.

Spanish television broadcast amateur video footage of bathers agape over Sunday’s landing at sun-splashed Canos de Meca beach in Cadiz province. The foreigners included four babies, including one just 11 days old, TV station CNN said.A group of bathers was shown gathered around one of the infants, gently counting the fingers on one of its hands and coming up with six.Bathers helped emergency medical crews carry some of the undocumented foreigners on stretchers to ambulances for treatment for dehydration, hypothermia and malnutrition.One refugee shouted into a cell phone and ran around as colleagues tried to restrain him.It was not immediately clear exactly where the foreigners were from, but the reports said they were from sub-Saharan Africa.Such arrivals are common in Spain, especially in summer, but usually take place under cover of night, not on a beach packed with weekend sunbathers.- Nampa-APThe foreigners included four babies, including one just 11 days old, TV station CNN said.A group of bathers was shown gathered around one of the infants, gently counting the fingers on one of its hands and coming up with six.Bathers helped emergency medical crews carry some of the undocumented foreigners on stretchers to ambulances for treatment for dehydration, hypothermia and malnutrition.One refugee shouted into a cell phone and ran around as colleagues tried to restrain him.It was not immediately clear exactly where the foreigners were from, but the reports said they were from sub-Saharan Africa.Such arrivals are common in Spain, especially in summer, but usually take place under cover of night, not on a beach packed with weekend sunbathers.- Nampa-AP