1 Oct 2008

Illegal immigrants rescued at sea

9:58 am on 1 October 2008

Spanish Coastguards in the Canary Islands have rescued a boatload of 230 African migrants.

It's thought to be the largest single boatload of illegal immigrants to reach Spain.

The BBC reports the fishing boat was spotted in the Atlantic Ocean about 90km south of the islands.

The group included around 25 children. They were taken to the port of Los Cristianos in Tenerife.

So far this year, almost 7000 illegal immigrants have arrived by boat in the Canary Islands - a slight fall on the same period last year.