Spain aids pregnant woman, kayakers in migrant rescue

Spanish authorities say they have rescued 33 migrants crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, including a pregnant woman on a small boat and four people paddling two kayaks across the busy shipping lane.

The country's Maritime Rescue Service said on its Twitter account on Saturday that it was informed about the migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa by a ferry and a coast guard airplane.

The distance across the Strait is less than 14km from Morocco to Spain's southern beach town of Tarifa.

The International Organisation for Migration said last week that more than 60 000 migrants have reached Spain so far this year, almost all of them by sea. It said total migrant arrivals in Europe stand at just over 134 000 in 2018.