Spain rescues 650 migrants

Spanish officials said they have rescued about 650 migrants from 16 boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe, finding one dead woman among them.

Official rescue services told Spanish private news agency Europa Press the woman was with about 50 other people on a boat whose owner was taken into custody.

The rescues occurred on Thursday in the so-called Alboran Sea, east of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Spanish authorities pulled three bodies from the sea there on Wednesday.

The Mediterranean is a deadly route for migrants trying to enter Europe illegally, with at least 1,857 deaths recorded so far this year.

The Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration said last month that 45,145 men, women and children entered Spain through the western Mediterranean route through October 21 - more than in the previous three years combined.

Pic from Reuters