The spokeswoman, who wasn't authorized to be identified in media reports, said that 455 migrants were rescued Wednesday — 124 in the Strait of Gibraltar, and 331 further east. The service says two of the rescued, who were suffering severe hypothermia, had to be evacuated from rescue vessels by helicopters.

The United Nations estimates that 2,262 migrants died while crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, when 57,000 migrants reached Spanish shores despite unauthorized border crossings into Europe hitting a five-year low.