MADRID (AP) — Spain's maritime rescue service says it has saved 57 migrants from two boats trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco.

The rescue service says that it reached a small boat carrying four Moroccan men in the Strait of Gibraltar after the craft was spotted by Spain's Civil Guard. The four were in apparent good health and the rescue ship brought them ashore.

A maritime rescue ship intercepted a second boat with 53 migrants of unknown origin near the island of Alboran, where the maritime rescue service has an outpost. The migrants are expected to reach land later Saturday.

Thousands of migrants from Africa attempt the perilous crossing to Europe in small boats that are unfit for the open sea.