RABAT, Oct 25, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Morocco's navy recovered the bodies of three migrants and rescued 189 others, who were aboard two "struggling" boats off the coast of Dakhla, Western Sahara, a military source said Tuesday.

"Royal Naval units and coastal surveillance units provided assistance on Monday, during two separate operations, to two struggling pirogues (motorised canoes) south of Dakhla with 189 Senegalese... irregular migrants, including 18 women and 29 minors, as well as three corpses," a military source told the Moroccan news agency MAP.

The two boats "which took to sea respectively, October 2 and 17, 2023, from the Senegalese coast, intended to go to the Canary Islands," the same source said.

The three bodies were transferred to a hospital in Dakhla while the surviving migrants received necessary care before being handed over to authorities.

The Spanish Canary Islands have long been a draw for migrants seeking a better life in Europe, with many boats setting off from Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal.

Latest data from Spain's interior ministry show 23,537 migrants reached the Canaries between January 1 and October 15.

The first fortnight of this month alone saw 8,561 arrivals -- a record since a previous migration crisis in 2006.

Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska last week said on a visit to the archipelago that the spike in numbers resulted from political "destabilisation in the Sahel" region.