Migrants feared drowned off Spain's Canary Islands

Seven migrants were feared drowned after their flimsy boat capsized off Spain's Canary Islands, officials said yesterday.

The boat carrying African migrants trying to enter Spain illegally was spotted when it was about 300 metres from Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, on Friday night.

A Spanish police patrol boat went to intercept the migrants and take them on board, but in the scramble to get on to the patrol boat, 33 migrants fell into the sea.

"The patrol boat's crew... managed to save 26 immigrants, but could do nothing for the other seven who disappeared under water," a police official told state radio.

The search for the missing resumed yesterday, but sea conditions were rough and none of the missing had been found, a government spokesman in the Canary Islands told Reuters.

Each year, thousands of African migrants head for mainland Spain and the Canary Islands in unseaworthy boats.

Some die in the attempt, while many more are intercepted and deported.