(AFP) Cutting through the black night waters of the Mediterranean, a boat carrying Algerian migrants is speeding towards Spain, all of them ready to risk death if it means escaping the despair of their homeland.
“I’d rather die at sea than stay in Algeria,” says Khaled Dih, his eyes dark, and his Nike trainers soaked and full of sand, after landing on a beach at Almeria following a six-hour crossing from Oran.
It was one of around 50 boats that day which made the dangerous crossing from the Algerian coastline which lies 200 kilometres (120 miles) to the south, officials and NGOs said.
“There is nothing there, no work in the bled,” Dih said, using a North African word meaning “the old country,” dragging on a cigarette as he adjusted his ponytail.
