African migrants reach Spain's Canary Islands

An African migrant died trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands by boat yesterday and police arrested 88 men trying to enter the country with him, police said.

Five of the men were taken to hospital with hypothermia, a police spokesman said.

The African migrants had arrived on two boats at the island of Fuerteventura, just 120 kilometres from Africa's coast. Police spotted them climbing up from the bottom of a ravine.

They found the body of a man at the bottom of the ravine. It was unclear how he died but police sources said he had not drowned.

A joint patrol of Moroccan and Spanish police, set up to tackle illegal immigration to the island, arrested the men. Every year thousands risk their lives trying to cross the short stretch of the Atlantic Ocean between Spain's Canary Islands and Africa and the Strait of Gibraltar separating mainland Spain from Morocco.

The Andalusian Association for Human Rights said this week 289 people died in the attempt last year, although it estimated that well over 500 could have perished.

Migrants usually make the journey on low-lying, unstable boats operated by smugglers.

In another island, Gran Canaria, police intercepted a boat carrying 22 North African migrants yesterday.