A total of 24 North African migrants, including a pregnant woman and many children, died when their boat capsized only 20 metres off the island of Lanzarote, DPA quoted Spanish officials as announcing today. The boat, which was loaded with at least 30 people foundered just 20 metres before reaching Lanzarote about 125 kilometres off the coast of Africa. Residents and a surfer managed to save six people alive from the waters. At least 15 of the dead were children and teenagers aged between 7 and 17. Rescue workers managed to retrieve the bodies of 19 migrants and discovered another three bodies in a hard-to-reach bay surrounded by cliffs. Several of the passengers died because they had got trapped under the hull of the boat, which had set off from the Moroccan city of Tanger.
