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The heart-stopping scene was captured by their rescuers from the air and show how the 34 occupants, including nine women, have no choice but to abandon ship and risk their lives in the water instead.

Luckily, help was on hand from maritime rescue and a fishing boat and the 34 migrants, striving to get from Africa into Spain, were saved.

The video, published by the Portuguese Air Force, shows how the men and women are crammed into the tiny boat on rough seas when flames suddenly erupt amongst them and then burst into an infierno.