Spain's maritime rescue service says it has saved 54 migrants, including two babies, trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in a smugglers' boat.
A spokesman for the service says that the group, which included 13 women, was spotted by a cargo ship in waters east of the Strait of Gibraltar. The spokesman spoke anonymously in line with the policy of the rescue service.
The Red Cross says that seven of the migrants needed to be taken to a hospital upon arrival at the port in Malaga around midnight on Saturday.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees have attempted the dangerous crossing to Europe in recent years, with thousands perishing in the attempt. Laura Lanuza, the spokeswoman for Spain's Proactiva Open Arms, said that while two migrants perished in international waters off the Libyan coast, the Spanish aid group and five other humanitarian organizations saved 1,058 migrants after intercepting several smugglers' boats.
Lanuza said that in addition to the deaths, two other migrants were in critical condition. The Golfo Azzurro, Proactiva Open Arms' converted fishing trawler, pulled 243 migrants from two smugglers' boats. That group included one baby, a pregnant woman and several children.
The other boats that participated in the massive rescue operation belonged to Save the Children, Sea Watch, Moas, Sea Eye and Jugend Rettet Iuventa. Lanuza said that the fleet of aid boats also reached another 289 migrants in different crafts that they helped transfer to Italian coast guard boats, which arrived as reinforcements.
Libya is one of the prime spots for smugglers to launch their unseaworthy boats packed with migrants and refugees. Thousands have perished in recent years attempting the crossing. It was not clear how the migrants, whose bodies were spotted by fishermen, had died, coastguard officials said. Earlier, Tripoli coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said one Bangladeshi migrant had been killed and two wounded in crossfire when coastguards from Zawiya, just west of Tripoli, had clashed on Friday.