Spanish Coastal Rescue services have taken 16 immigrants for treatment in the port of Motril on the south coast of Spain after they were rescued from two rubber dinghies in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Thursday saw the Coastal Rescue Services take 71 would be immigrants taken off the two inflatable dinghies by a merchant vessel 35 miles west of the Isle of Alboran at around 8 p.m. local time (1900GMT). 55 of those, including five minors and several women, were taken back to Morocco by a Moroccan police vessel, while the remaining 16 were taken to Spain for treatment by the Red Cross.

The 16, who are all men from the Megreb, are now in the disposition of the Spanish national police, who will carry out the necessary steps for their repatriation.

The incident once again highlights the desperate measures immigrants are willing to take in order to try and reach Europe and the rescue of the 71 would-be immigrants from the sea came on the same day that around 800 sub-Saharans attempted to force their way into the Spanish enclave of Melilla by climbing the frontier fence.

Around 140 of the immigrants are thought to have succeeded in making it in Melilla, which is situated on the north coast of Morocco, while 150 were returned to Morocco following tense scenes between security forces and immigrants which according to Spanish government sources left 12 agents and 6 immigrants injured.

There have been at least 15 major assaults on the frontier fence in Melilla in 2014 in which around approximately 1,300 sub-Saharans have been able to force their way into the enclave with the hope of then continuing their journey to mainland Europe.