Europe

The Latest: Spain: 44 migrants rescued off Western Sahara

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A boy pushes a barrow with water at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Monday, May 9, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europe’s prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

A woman hold a cooking pot as she prepares food near a makeshift fire in a railway repairs shed where people have set up their tents at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Monday, May 9, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europe’s prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

A woman hold a cooking pot as she prepares food near a makeshift fire in a railway repairs shed where people have set up their tents at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Monday, May 9, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europe’s prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) (The Associated Press)

The Latest on Europe's response to mass migration (all times local):

12:45 p.m.

Slovak officials say customs officers have opened fire at a car carrying migrants, injuring a woman.

Patricia Macikova, a spokeswoman for the Slovak Financial Administration, says the officials wanted to stop four suspicious cars coming from Hungary near Velky Meder shortly after midnight Monday. As one driver was trying to escape, Macikova says, an officer fired warning shots into the air before aiming at the car, injuring one migrant.

A 26-year-old Syrian woman was operated Monday morning in a hospital in nearby Dunajska Streda. Tomas Kral, a spokesman for a company that operates the clinic, said a projectile was removed from her back.

There was no immediate comment from police.

With border checks re-established on the Austrian-Hungarian border, the migrants could possibly go through Slovakia and the Czech Republic to get to Germany.

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11:10 a.m.

The maritime rescue service says it has picked up 44 sub-Saharan African migrants that set off in a boat from the west coast of Africa in a bid to reach Spain.

The service said the 42 men and two women were taken to the port of Arguineguin in Spain's Canary Islands late Sunday after being rescued off the Western Sahara coast, some 100 nautical miles (200 kilometers) south of the islands.

The service said Monday it began the search for the boat after receiving a warning call from a non-government organization. The migrants were said to be in good health.

Thousands of migrants try to reach Spain each year either by attempting perilous sea journeys from the western Africa or across the Mediterranean Sea.