Spanish police in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic say they have picked up 18 illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who reached shore after evading interception at sea.

The police said the migrants were discovered near the place where they beached their boat on the south-eastern coast of Lanzarote.

On Saturday, police detained at least 20 Sierra Leoneans in the Canaries, along with the Moroccan crewmen who had smuggled them there.

Altogether on Saturday, the Spanish authorities intercepted more than 500 Africans trying to enter the country illegally.

Most of them were Moroccans.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service