MADRID 

At least five irregular migrants were killed on Wednesday when their boat sank off Spain's Canary Islands, officials said.

The boat carrying 12 irregular migrants was trying to reach Lanzarote island when it hit the rocks and sank, according to information given to the media by Civil Protection authorities.

Authorities managed to rescue four migrants, while five bodies were recovered and three migrants are missing.

In the first 10 months of 2019, Spain received 20,036 irregular migrants and refugees, according to UN migration agency International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The number of deaths reported on the Western Mediterranean route was at 318, compared to 549 in 2018, the IOM report said.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara