African migrants found dead off Morocco coast
Spanish coast guard recovers 14 bodies and rescues 17 people, while search continues for as many as 70 more passengers.
Spain’s maritime rescue service has found 14 bodies in the sea and rescued 17 people after a boat carrying migrants from Morocco began to sink in the Mediterranean.
Search operations are continuing because one of the migrants said about 70 people had been on the boat, a rescue official told the Associated Press on Friday.
A coast guard plane spotted the boat on Thursday afternoon following a tip that it had left Morocco and was heading to Spain. Those on the boat are believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa.
Each year thousands of suspected illegal immigrants from Africa try to reach Europe by setting sail in small, fragile boats.