A CARGO ship rescued 25 African migrants off the southern coast of Spain’s Almeria province on Monday, although at least another 25 had died on the journey from hunger, thirst and exposure.
A boat patrolling waters between Malaga and Melilla rescued the people, including women and children, from a half-submerged boat late on Monday.
A spokesman for the Red Cross said that one woman had lost her husband and three small children at sea. “She was in shock, in a state of great anguish,” the spokesman said.
Every year, thousands of Africans try to enter Spain by boat to find work in Europe.
According to NGO, the Organisation for Human Rights in Andalusia, a total of 921 migrants died in 2007 from exposure or accidents as they made the journey by sea to Spain.
The Spanish government has pledged to repatriate all illegal immigrants and has set up joint naval patrols with other EU countries to help combat the problem.
According to figures from Spain’s interior ministry, the number of migrants who reached the country by boat has dropped almost 10 per cent from the same period last year and has more than halved since 2006.
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