MADRID -- Spain's maritime rescue service on Sunday saved 74 migrants crammed into three small boats attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The rescue service said it collected 25 migrants before dawn from one boat, followed hours later by the rescue of 19 others from a second craft, and then a third operation reached a boat bearing 30 more migrants. No casualties were reported.
Captains of passing ships had reported the vessels carrying the migrants as they approached Spain's southeast coast.
The Spanish Red Cross said those aboard the first two boats were examined at the port of Almeria and were unhurt. The 30 migrants from the third craft were being brought to the port of Cartagena, north of Almeria.
The International Organization for Migration says Spain received about 3,850 migrants via sea crossings and rescues in 2015. Others migrants seek asylum in Spain via its North African enclaves, Melilla and Ceuta.
