Human rights campaigners in Morocco and Spain have called on Spanish authorities to launch an investigation after a video appeared to show a Spanish police boat briefly mounting a small dinghy carrying people towards the coast of Spain.

The incident took place on Sunday as a vessel carrying four people approached the Spanish semi-exclave of Melilla. The video appeared to show the larger, more powerful Guardia Civil patrol boat veering towards the Zodiac inflatable, making several manoeuvres before skimming over the top of the boat, causing at least one person to fall out of the small vessel.

Speaking to Spanish media, police said nobody had been hurt or injured and added that those on the smaller vessel had been trying to enter Spain irregularly.