ROUNDUP: Africans rescued by Spanish fishermen disembark in Libya

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About 50 African would-be immigrants rescued by a Spanish fishing vessel off Libya disembarked Monday in Tripoli, Foreign Ministry sources said in Madrid.

Libya gave the green light after two days of negotiations with Spain and Portugal. The fishing boat based in the eastern Spanish port of Santa Pola sailed under the Portuguese flag.

The Africans, who were believed to have been heading for Italy, disembarked "without incidents," the sources said.

But boat captain Antonio Lopez said they did not want to leave the vessel, pleading: "Libya, no, please, Libya, no."

The fishing vessel MS Corisco rescued the Africans from a sinking rubber dinghy at about 140 kilometres off Libya on Saturday.

Spanish sources said Tripoli readmitted the migrants because their boat had set sail in Libya.

One of the routes of illegal immigration from Africa to Europe passes through Libya.

The nationalities of the Africans, who included three children and five women, were not known.

The Spanish and Portuguese crew of the Corisco rescued the migrants from a "certain death" in bad weather, boat owner Pedro Jose Lopez said.

The situation on the small fishing boat was described as being close to an emergency, with food running out and some of the immigrants vomiting. Boat owner Lopez, however, said they disembarked in good health.

Fishing boats based in Santa Pola have rescued undocumented immigrants several times over the past few years.

Meanwhile on the Canary Island of Tenerife, one among 90 recently arrived immigrants died at hospital on Monday.

Five others were being treated for dehydration. The boat carrying the migrants had landed on the island on Sunday. dpa st ds