Spanish coastguards rescue 117 Africans migrants
Sun 7 Sep 2008, 8:41 GMT



MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish coastguards helped 117 African migrants to reach shore on Saturday after their boat got into difficulty 30 km (18 miles) off the coast, a spokesman for the emergency services said.

Coastguards guided the boat, which had sailed from Morocco, into port on the Spanish island of La Gomera. Four of the occupants, who were all men, were taken to hospital, the spokesman said.

Interior ministry data released this week showed illegal immigrant arrivals on the Spanish coast fell 8 percent between January and August compared to the same period a year earlier and 64 percent compared to 2006.

"This shows a trend, it shows we have to keep working along the lines of the Spanish government, of continuing to have closer cooperation with the countries of origin (of migrants) to avoid them risking their lives in this way," the government's representative in the Canary Islands, Carolina Darias, told national radio.

The Spanish government routinely deports adult illegal immigrants and toughened up its repatriation policy after 30,000 Africans made it to the Canary Islands in 2006, briefly pushing immigration to the top of voters' concerns.

Thousands of Africans are believed to have died attempting to reach Spain by boat in recent years.
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