The Latest: Migrants on Bosnia border start hunger strike

MADRID – The Latest on Europe’s migration crisis (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

Migrants camping on Bosnia’s border with European Union member Croatia say they are launching a hunger strike.

Several dozen migrants have stayed out in the open for days insisting that Croatia let them in. They have clashed with police while trying to push their way through.

Some of the migrants on Saturday covered their mouth and eyes with tapes in protest. Others could be seen walking among small tents or sitting on the road.

Bosnian police have sought to persuade the group to move to a migrant centre.

Several thousand migrants have been staying in northwestern Bosnia as they try to cross from there to neighbouring Croatia and move on toward other EU nations. Authorities have turned back buses and trains carrying more migrants.

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2:10 p.m.

Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has saved over 350 migrants attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.

The service says it pulled 359 people from seven small boats its rescue craft intercepted in waters between Spain and the coast of northern Africa on Saturday.

Spain has seen a rise in illegal immigration this year following a crackdown by countries in the eastern Mediterranean.

The International Organization for Migration said this week that over 45,000 men, women and children have entered Spain through the western Mediterranean route in 2018.

Packed into small boats by human trafficking gangs, the migrants often risk death because the boats are prone to sinking. The United Nations says over 1,960 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.