Five Africans die trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The bodies of five Africans have been found in a small boat packed with migrants trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands, officials said Friday - the third such tragedy in a week. The boat, spotted trying to reach a southern beach on the small island of La Gomera off the northwest coast of Africa, was escorted by the coast guard into port where the bodies of the five men - all from sub-Saharan Africa - were discovered among its 59 occupants. Three other seriously ill men have been taken to the hospital and another eight were treated by medical teams, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry rules. On Thursday, 15 migrants - most of them small children - died of hunger, thirst or exposure as they tried to reach Spain. On Monday, 14 Africans were reported missing, presumed dead off the coast by the southern Spanish city of Motril after a storm.