31 migrants rescued in northern Moroccan coast

Moroccan navy patrol vessels on Friday rescued 31 migrants after their boat sank off Morocco's northern city of Tangiers, local authorities said.

All the 31 migrants were safe and transferred to local hospitals in Tangiers, Morocco's news agency quoted local authorities as saying.

Seven women and one baby were in a makeshift boat while it sank and all were safe now, it added.

The agency didn't give further information about the nationalities of the migrants which were crossing the Gibraltar strait for Spain from the Moroccan territories.

Morocco has become a hub for African migrants who seek to reach Europe for a better life. Thousands of migrants are trying to flee poverty and unrest in Africa each year via Morocco to Europe, either by land into Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish ports in the Moroccan territory, or by sea to Spain or Italy, often in flimsy vessels.

After European countries and Morocco tightened the security control in the strait of Gibraltar, Morocco then would become a host country of these migrants. Endit