The bodies of seven Moroccans were recovered close to Casablanca Saturday after their boat was shipwrecked trying to reach Spain, Moroccan officials said. The bodies of the victims including one woman washed ashore at Ain Harrouda, 17 kilometres (10 miles) from Casablanca on the kingdom's Atlantic coast, after their inflatable boat foundered, authorities said. Three survivors were found unconscious and taken to hospital, the official MAP press agency reported citing the officials.

The number of migrants aboard the vessel was unknown. Since January, more than 15,000 migrants have arrived in Spain by sea, according to Spanish authorities. Many depart from Morocco's northern Mediterranean coast, just a few dozen kilometres from the south of Spain.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019