A small boat was intercepted last night off the Almería coast with 33 illegal immigrants on board, but it is now thought that 15 people died en route.
The boat was intercepted 27 miles south of Punta Sabinal, on the Almería coast, after initially being spotted by a sailing vessel. The survivors, 19 men, 13 women and a baby, are now in the port of Almería.
Several of the survivors were in poor health and have been transferred to various hospitals in the area for treatment.
Statements made by some of the survivors indicate that, when the boat left North Africa, there were a total of 48 people on board and that 15 of their companions, many of them children, died en route, their bodies dumped at sea.