Spain's maritime rescue service says it has rescued 366 migrants attempting the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea this weekend.
The service says that its rescue craft has intercepted 73 migrants traveling in four small boats on Sunday, adding to the 293 migrants it pulled from nine vessels on Saturday.
Driven out by violent conflict and extreme poverty, tens of thousands of migrants attempt to reach Spain and other southern European countries each year by crossing the Mediterranean in smugglers' boats. Most of the boats are unfit for open water, and thousands drown.
The UN says 636 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean so far this year. A total of 22,439 migrants reached European shores, with 4,409 arriving in Spain, through the first four months of 2018.
Austria's chancellor says European border guards should be allowed to go to north Africa to prevent migrants from setting off across the Mediterranean Sea in rickety boats.
In a related matter, the Italian coastguard said on Saturday that around 1,500 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean on Thursday and Friday in operations involving the Italian navy and ships chartered by NGOs and the EU border agency Frontex.
On Friday alone, seven separate operations picked up 1,050 people as they tried to make the crossing to Europe. The operations were coordinated by the Italian coastguard.
The new arrivals are in addition to 10,800 migrants already registered in Italy since the start of the year, according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures.
Each year, tens of thousands attempt to reach Europe in vessels that are mostly unfit for the open se
