EXPATS ATTEMPTING TO FLEE SPAIN DESCRIBED THE SCENE AT MALAGA AIRPORT AS “ABSOLUTE HELL” AS THEY WERE “HERDED LIKE CATTLE AND SHOUTED AT” BY AIRPORT POLICE AS MASSIVE QUEUES BUILT UP TO GET THROUGH SECURITY.

Long queues formed at Malaga Airport on Sunday as tourists cut short their holidays to escape the lockdown imposed by the Spanish government to fight the coronavirus crisis, where was the social distancing?

The vast majority of passengers had been ferried there by Hotels ordered to shut down by the government. Notices informed guests of the ban on leaving the premises as airlines put into action special plans to return tourists to their countries of origin.

On Sunday Easyjet, TUI and Jet2.com announced that they would stop flying in and out of Spain on Tuesday, while Ryanair said that it would cut its schedule to comply with the state of alarm decree. This establishes that passenger transport should be reduced by 50%.

As the crowds of tourists in the airport on Sunday packed the airport, the public announcements advised passengers to keep a distance of two metres between them in the queues, basically impossible to achieve.

Hotels along the Costa del Sol are gradually closing as remaining tourists are being grouped together.

The drastic action came as the country’s death toll from the outbreak more than doubled overnight to 288 yesterday and the number of infections soared by a third to 7,753. Hundreds of thousands of British tourists and ex-pats are stranded in Spain after the country entered an unprecedented two-week lockdown.

In the Costa del Sol – home to 50,000 Brits – police can jail people and issue fines of up to £25,000 for anyone breaking the strict lockdown.

Cops in Spain stepped up their operation to force people to stay indoors over the weekend.