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Tropical Storm Kiko strengthens in Pacific

MEXICO CITY - Tropical Storm Kiko strengthened off Mexico's Pacific coastline, and forecasters warned that the storm's outer bands could kick up strong waves, winds and rains on land.

Kiko was expected to become a hurricane by late Saturday, although forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm's eye would likely move northwest, parallel to Mexico's Pacific coast, before heading out to sea.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm had maximum sustained winds near 70 mph and was inching northwest at 6 mph. The storm was 175 miles west of the port of Manzanillo.

Authorities in Jalisco state on the Pacific coast of central Mexico broadcast radio messages advising people to monitor the storm's progress and stay away from areas that easily flood.

Migrants drown: Authorities in southern Mexico have recovered the bodies of 15 Central American migrants whose boat capsized in the Pacific Ocean. The vessel was believed to be carrying more than 20 migrants. A man and a woman from El Salvador survived the shipwreck, Oaxaca's state government said. The search for survivors was suspended on Saturday because of heavy rain and winds. Earlier, a military helicopter searched the sea while state authorities combed the beach near the towns of San Francisco Ixhuatan and San Francisco del Mar, about 200 miles from the Guatemalan border.

[Last modified October 21, 2007, 01:43:51]