__________________

AFP

RABAT - The bodies of eight migrants have been found after their vessel sank off Morocco's northern coast, local authorities said Wednesday, adding that nine others were rescued.

The migrants took off from Morocco's northern Nador region seeking to "cross the Mediterranean aboard an inflatable boat", authorities were quoted by the state news agency MAP as saying.

The boat sank on Tuesday "due to poor weather conditions", it said.

The authorities said "the search is continuing for missing people" after nine had been rescued, and that an investigation had been opened into the incident.

The migrants' nationalities were not immediately specified.

Morocco is a frequent launching point for many irregular migrants who make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean or the Atlantic in a bid to find better lives in Europe.

In the past weeks, the Moroccan navy announced it had intercepted or rescued dozens of migrants during various operations at its southwestern coast.

According to the Moroccan army, some 87,000 irregular migrants were intercepted in 2023.

A total of 56,852 undocumented migrants entered Spain last year, an 82.1 percent jump from 2022, mainly due to a record number landing in the Canary Islands, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Morocco at the closest point.