4 migrants who were pushed out of a boat die just yards from Spain’s southern coast

By CIARÁN GILES and HERNÁN MUÑOZ
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Four migrants have died yards from shore in southern Spain after being forced out of the boat they were traveling in. The Spanish government press office in the southern province of Cadiz said Thursday that 31 other people also were forced off the boat by the vessel’s drivers but survived. Four were taken to a hospital. A video shot on Wednesday afternoon by a man who works in the area showed passengers being pushed overboard and other people in the choppy water trying to swim to shore. Officials say the migrants were from unspecified North African countries. Tens of thousands of migrants try to reach Spain each year in large open boats launched from northwest Africa.