Coastguards in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta have recovered at least five bodies -- probably those of would-be migrants who died attempting to cross from Morocco to mainland Spain.

Their identities and the exact cause of their deaths was not known.

Correspondents say the fourteen-kilometre-wide Strait of Gibraltar is a route often chosen by illegal immigrants trying to reach Europe.

The Spanish Civil Guard recently detained more than one-hundred people as they made their way by boat from Morocco to the coast of Andalucia.