NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP):

The bodies of 15 people found washed ashore on the beaches of Mauritania's capital city are believed to be those of African migrants who were trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands by boat, police said yesterday.

No maritime emergencies were reported, leading authorities to believe that the dead were illegal migrants whose boat had capsized off the West African nation's coast, said a regional police official, Mohamed Abdallahi.

Spain said that in the first 21 days of August alone, more than 4,800 immigrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, had landed on its shores.