SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE (AFP) — A would-be immigrant died Wednesday after reaching Spain's Canary Islands in a wooden fishing boat from Africa with 135 others, hospital sources said.
The man had been taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack after arriving on the island of Tenerife late on Tuesday.
The maritime rescue service had intercepted the small boat carrying 136 migrants about 40 nautical miles (75 kilometres) off the coast of Tenerife, and brought them ashore.
The Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco, has been a magnet in recent years for African migrants aspiring to reach Europe.
Authorities fear many of the thousands who try to reach Spain by sailing in simple boats from west Africa die of thirst, hunger or exposure.
During the first nine months of the year, 7,066 illegal immigrants arrived in the Canary Islands, down from 8,022 during the same period last year, according to local government officials.
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