"Under the international protection framework applied to other cases of foreigners rescued in the Mediterranean, Portugal will welcome the eight young people who, on Wednesday, landed on a beach in the Algarve, after they had requested this protection status at dawn," an announcement from SEF said.

According to the organisation, the group, made up of young people aged between 16 and 26, and of Moroccan nationality, stayed overnight in Vila Real de Santo António and will still be transferred to Lisbon, to the Portuguese Refugee Centre.

The young men, all boys, were intercepted "hidden in the dunes" of Monte Gordo beach after an alert from the public. The young men were said to appear to “not require special care" and said only that they were hungry.

According to the source, the youths claim that they come from the town of El Jadida, in Morocco, and spent five days at sea until they landed on that beach in the district of Faro.