Shocking moment people smugglers push migrants off their powerboat into fast-moving currents near a Spanish beach before speeding off 'leaving four youngsters to drown'

This is the sickening moment people smugglers push migrants into fast-moving currents off a Spanish beach moments after four young migrants who couldn't swim drowned after being swept away. 

Footage showed the migrants being forced into the choppy water by the gang on board a high-powered semi-rigid Zodiac of the sort normally used by drug smugglers.

Their reluctance to enter the water, even though the sand was within sight, was understandable given the treacherous currents and their fears had been compounded by the fact a larger group had just been left to their fate off another nearby beach where four had sank beneath the waves.

Survivors said overnight they were threatened with knives and even guns by the people smugglers.

Shocking images showed workers from the Spanish Good Samaritans going to rescue the migrants after seeing them being pushed overboard around 1pm yesterday. 

Witness Javier Gomez, owner of a water sports firm based in the Costa de la Luz resort of Sancti Petri near the city of Cadiz was one of the locals who went to their rescue.

'We've never seen anything so abhorrent,' he said afterwards, revealing some of the migrants were semi-conscious and face-down in the water when he pulled them into a small boat.

Describing the 'terrifying' experience as one he would never forget, he told Spanish press: 'One of the survivors told us they threatened him with a gun and told him, ''jump or we'll put a bullet in your head''.

'The ones that could talk after we helped them to shore thanked us. They were all young, between about 15 and 20 years old. They said they had paid 5,000 euros for the trip.'

The four youngsters who died lost their lives off Camposoto Beach, one of the longest in Southern Spain which is located on the outskirts of San Fernando - a 20-minute drive from Cadiz.

The footage showing migrants being pushed into the water and swimming in treacherous currents was filmed in a shallow channel known locally as the Cano de Sancti Petri.

Many of those who ended up in the water during the two drops are thought to have been beginner swimmers or non-swimmers, and the fact they were fully clothed also complicated their efforts to reach dry land.

The people smugglers on the semi-rigid Zodiac simply accelerated away from the scene as the migrants fought to survive in the cold sea.

Three of the survivors were evacuated by ambulance and taken to hospital in Puerto Real near Cadiz suffering from hypothermia.

Police are still hunting the people smugglers, whose nationalities are not known.

They are expected to face criminal charges including manslaughter if they are caught.