African migrants die sailing to Spain: officials

Two African migrants died and lifeguards rescued about 50 trying to reach Spain by boat from Morocco on Friday, a day after 14 others were pulled dead from the water, emergency services said.

The dead — a total of 16 in two days — were the latest victims in a steady wave of attempted migration to Spanish soil from Morocco, many of them in makeshift rafts, that has swelled in recent weeks.

“A Moroccan patrol rescued a raft and told us there 36 men, 11 women and a baby aboard, and two people were also found dead,” during searches by both countries, a spokeswoman for the Spanish lifeguard told AFP, adding that the migrants were believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa.

While many migrants from that region in search of a better life in Europe head to Spain by boat, others have been trying to scale fences that divide Moroccan soil from Melilla, a Spanish-ruled enclave in north Africa.

“There was a new assault this afternoon but I have not more information,” a central government spokeswoman in Melilla said Friday, confirming the latest attempt to cross into Melilla.

Lifeguards on Thursday said 14 other migrants died and 17 were rescued while trying to reach Spain from Morocco on another raft overnight after setting off on Wednesday.