By Pascal Fletcher

DAKAR, April 25 (Reuters) - A Spanish hospital ship is taking 91 African migrants, some seriously ill, to Senegal after they stormed on board a Spanish fishing boat off Mauritania to escape their own stricken craft, diplomats said on Wednesday.

They said Senegal's government had agreed in principle to allow the migrants on the hospital ship Esperanza del Mar to disembark in the West African country's port capital, where they would arrive early on Thursday.

The incident was the latest migrant problem to confront Spanish authorities, who have been trying to stem a flood of thousands of illegal job seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa who try to reach the Spanish Canary Islands in often flimsy boats. They seek to escape poverty and find better lives in Europe.

More than 30,000 illegal migrants came ashore last year in the Spanish Canary Islands after making long, risky voyages in open boats from the Atlantic coast of West Africa.

The migrants on the Esperanza del Mar, some of whom were believed to come from Senegal, included women and children and seven people with serious injuries, the diplomats said. The nature of the injuries was not immediately clear.

Desperate after days at sea and following the deaths of several of their number, the group had stormed onto the Spanish fishing boat Segundo San Rafael on Monday after it went to their aid off Mauritania.

"They literally stormed on board," the diplomat said. The migrants were later transferred to the Spanish government hospital ship.

Spain had initially asked Mauritania to allow the migrants to disembark on its territory -- the nearest landfall -- on humanitarian grounds, but the Mauritanian authorities refused.

Since the rescue took place in a maritime rescue area that falls under Senegal's jurisdiction, Madrid then asked the Senegalese government to allow the migrants ashore.

Spain has offered to help bear the costs of the disembarkation and medical care of the migrants, as well as their eventual repatriation to their home countries with the cooperation of the International Organisation for Migration.

Madrid has launched a diplomatic offensive in West Africa to try to halt the influx and is offering countries in the region increased aid in return for help to halt clandestine migration.

In February, a trawler carrying several hundred mostly Asian migrants headed for the Canaries was brought ashore in Mauritania after it was intercepted by a Spanish patrol vessel.

Amid intense diplomatic wrangling, most of these migrants were identified by Spanish police and flown back to India and Pakistan, as well as other destinations.

Spain's government has said it needs more help from its European Union allies and from African states to try to check the flow of illegal migrants heading for Europe.

AlertNet news is provided by