Tenerife tourists help migrants

Tourists on a beach in Tenerife have come to the aid of 88 exhausted African migrants - among 205 who reached the Canary Islands on three open boats.

The sunbathers helped them with whatever they could provide until police and Red Cross workers arrived.

Some tourists drove their off-road vehicles onto La Tejita beach to help migrants who were too weak to walk.

More than 11,000 Africans have made the risky voyage to the Canaries this year - double the 2005 total, Spain says.

The influx has put enormous strain on the Canaries coastguards, police and rescue workers.

Eight of the migrants who arrived at La Tejita on Sunday were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia and dehydration, the Red Cross said.

Last week four Africans were found dead in a small open boat packed with migrants, intercepted off the Canary Islands.

The European Union plans to launch maritime patrols around the Canaries and along the West African coast to help limit the flow of migrants.

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Published: 2006/07/31 09:17:01 GMT

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