FOUR DEAD AND 10 MISSING AFTER MIGRANTS ATTEMPT A SEA CROSSING TO SPAIN

AT 11.15pm on Monday, rescue services said they located a boat adrift around 30 nautical miles north of Melilla, a Spanish autonomous city located on the north coast of Africa.

According to government sources in Melilla the rescue vessel Salvamar Spica found the migrant boat almost completely sunken, with three dead bodies aboard.

55 migrants were saved, however three were in a critical condition, one of which died after reaching Melilla where the migrants were taken.

Three children were among the survivors, however a further ten individuals are reported missing.

Spanish government sources in Melilla have confirmed that a rescue helicopter was dispatched to the area to try to locate the missing people.

Red Cross personnel helped with assisting the migrants when they arrived to port. The individuals were taken to a temporary holding facility. A facility which is currently over capacity due to the influx of migrants since the summer. In just over the last week, some 170 migrants have been taken to Melilla.

According to recent reports from Spanish authorities, this year alone, over 300 people have drowned or disappeared in the Strait of Gibraltar.