At least seven migrants, including a woman, have drowned as they tried to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from a beach in neighbouring Morocco, Moroccan authorities said.
The victims belonged to a group of about "200 illegal migrants" who made the attempt, municipal authorities in the Moroccan town of Fnideq said on Thursday, without giving the nationalities of the migrants.
They said 13 of those who headed out to sea had been rescued and taken to hospital and that a search operation was continuing.
Spanish authorities in Ceuta said about "400 sub-Saharans" had attempted the crossing, and that Moroccan police had recovered five bodies from the beach.
Ceuta is the northernmost point on the coast of northwest Africa and lies 15 kilometres across the sea from the Spanish mainland.
Ceuta and Spain's other north African enclave Melilla have the European Union's only land borders with Africa.
They are seen as stepping stones to a better life in Europe for sub-Saharan migrants, who often risk their lives attempting to enter the tiny Spanish enclaves, either by sea or by storming the six-metre barriers that separate them from Morocco.
On Sunday, the bodies of five presumed migrants thought to have been trying to reach Spain in an inflatable boat were found in the Nador area of Morocco's northern coast, near Melilla.
According to the Rif Human Rights Association, more than 40 migrants died trying to reach Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco in the past two years.
Many more attempt the perilous journey across the Strait of Gibraltar, often in overloaded makeshift boats.
Morocco estimates there are about 30,000 illegal immigrants on its soil, most from sub-Saharan Africa.
