Five people have been found dead on a crowded boat south of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, reports the Spanish rescue service.
The alarm about the boat drifting around 80 miles from Tenerife came on Wednesday afternoon. A ship sent to the area rescued 68 people and found the five dead on board.
The migrant route across the Atlantic is dangerous due to strong ocean currents, which means that boats that go off course can drift for weeks or months. Migrants also often travel in overcrowded and poor-quality boats with insufficient water.
During the first five months of the year, over 5,000 people died trying to reach Spain by sea, according to the Spanish charity Caminando Fronteras.
