Woman's body found as Spain rescuers save 173 migrants

Spain's coastguard retrieved the body of a female migrant from waters off the Canary Islands on Tuesday as they pulled 173 other migrants to safety, a spokeswoman said.

It was not immediately possible to say whether she was from sub-Saharan Africa or North Africa as her body appeared to have been in the water for "quite a few days" and there was no further details on her identity, the spokeswoman for Salvamento Maritimo said.

"The body was in a really bad state."

The coastguard vessel found the body as it was heading out to rescue a migrant boat carrying 52 people.

Throughout the day, they picked up another three boats carrying more than 100 migrants, taking the total number of people rescued on Tuesday to 173, she said.

During the first 10 months of 2021, a total of 16,827 migrants have reached Spain's Atlantic Canary Islands by boat, a 44 percent increase on the 11,659 that arrived during the same period last year, interior ministry figures showed Tuesday.

Migrant arrivals on the Canaries have surged since late 2019 after increased patrols along Europe's southern coast dramatically reduced crossings to the continent via the Mediterranean.

The shortest route to the islands is more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Moroccan coast, but it is notoriously dangerous due to strong currents.

Many more travel much greater distances, setting sail in rickety boats from the shores of Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and beyond.