59 immigrants dock Canary Island of Tenerife

59 immigrants dock Canary Island of Tenerife

59 African immigrants arrived Tuesday on the Canary Island of Tenerife.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the immigrants, including four children, were detained on the beach of Las Galletas in the southern part of the island. Forty were arrested minutes after the boat arrived, while the rest were detained at the dock hours later.

He added there were some indications that the boat might have set out from Senegal in West Africa, the spokesman said.

Thousands of Sub-Saharan migrants try to reach Spain by sailing in rickety wooden boats from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands, just off the coast of Morocco. The trip can take more than a week and is often deadly. Those who are intercepted are kept in holding centers. Authorities then have 40 days to repatriate or release them.