Migrants die on Canaries journey

The bodies of 13 African migrants have been found in a boat off Spain's Canary Islands, local officials said.

Coast guards spotted the boat, also with 46 survivors on board, about 2km (1.2 miles) off Gran Canaria and escorted it to Puerto de Arguineguin.

In a separate incident, 85 migrants were rescued from a rubber dinghy about 160km south of Malta.

The migrants told their Maltese rescuers that five people had died on the journey and been put overboard.

Switch to dinghies

Spain's interior ministry said some of the migrants who arrived off Gran Canaria told police they had left the west African state of Guinea more than a week ago.

The Spanish Red Cross said it appeared that the fishing boat had lost its way several times and suffered engine problems.

The 13 victims probably died from hypothermia, the Red Cross spokesman said.

Two of the migrants were taken to hospital. The survivors included two women.

Every year thousands of Africans attempt treacherous journeys to the Canary Islands in overcrowded boats.

However, many are now being turned back following increased surveillance of African coastal waters by local and European vessels.

In the second incident, the Maltese army said it had received an alert about the rubber dinghy and diverted a tanker to go to its assistance.

The tanker crew gave the migrants water and food and transferred them to a Maltese army patrol boat.

The 85 migrants included 13 women and a nine-month-old baby.

Observers say illegal migrants from Libya are now using large rubber dinghies able to take up to 80 people, rather than small fibreglass boats with a capacity of 20 people.