Rome, June 30, (dpa/GNA) – Five people died when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, news agency ANSA reported on Wednesday.
Rescuers managed to save 48 people after the boat capsized about 9 kilometres from Lampedusa, the agency reported. The survivors and the victims’ bodies were taken to the island.
The agency reported that police were at the scene.
It also said that a further 256 migrants reached the island starting at 3:30 am (0130 GMT). They had travelled on four vessels of which just one, carrying Tunisians, managed to reach the port unassisted, ANSA said.
Thousands of refugees have already arrived by boat in Italy this year. As of Friday, that number stands at more than 19,300 people, according to the Interior Ministry. At the same point in time last year, the pandemic year 2020, that figure was just under 6,600 people.
Some 700 people have died so far this year in boat accidents while trying to make it to Europe from North Africa by crossing the central Mediterranean, according to figures from the United Nations.
GNA