Rome, Jun. 18, (dpa/GNA) – About 50 migrants are missing after a sailing boat was shipwrecked off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy overnight, the coastguard and the ANSA news agency reported on Monday.

The coastguard, which did not put a figure on the number missing, said the search was continuing. ANSA reported the numbers on the basis of information from survivors.

A nearby commercial vessel assisted the half-sunken boat and rescued 12 survivors and brought them on board, the coastguard reported.

The survivors were then taken by the coastguard to Roccella Ionica on the southern coast. One of the survivors died shortly after arrival, the coastguard said.

The Italian coastguard and units of the European Union’s Frontex border guard agency are involved in the search for survivors from the sailing boat, which is believed to have set out from Turkey.

So far this year, the Italian Interior Ministry has counted more than 23,700 migrants reaching Italy across the Mediterranean Sea, by comparison with around 55,900 in the same period last year.

Many people have died in attempting the crossing to the Italian mainland, Sicily, Malta or the Italian island of Lampedusa.GNA