15 Africans die in bid to reach Europe

Fifteen Africans, most of them small children, died of hunger, thirst or exposure as they drifted across the Mediterranean on a small, overcrowded boat bound for Spain, the government and the Red Cross reported.

A Spanish patrol boat rescued 33 people and recovered a body from the boat Wednesday off the coast of Almeria province in southern Spain, officials said.

Survivors told police they had been adrift for four or five days after the motor broke down and that as people died -- 14, including nine children ages 1 to 4 -- their bodies were thrown overboard, a Red Cross spokesman said.