Migrants die in bid for Spain

Madrid – At least 17 migrants have died in the past 24 hours while trying to cross the sea from North Africa to Spain, while rescuers picked up more than 100 others, the Spanish coast guard said.

Two rafts were found in the Western Mediterranean between the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco and Algeria with 80 people aboard and 13 dead. They were taken to the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla. – Reuters