By JORGE SAINZ
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) - Spain's Maritime Rescue Service has found 14 bodies in the sea and rescued 17 people after a boat carrying migrants from Morocco began to sink in the Mediterranean.

Search operations are continuing because a rescue official told The Associated Press that one of the migrants said about 70 people had been on the boat. The official spoke under departmental rules of anonymity.

A Coast Guard plane spotted the boat Thursday afternoon following a tip-off that it had left Morocco and was heading to Spain. Those on the boat are believed to be from sub-Saharan Africa.

Each year thousands of suspected illegal immigrants from Africa try to reach Europe by setting sail in small, fragile boats.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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