Migrant boat carrying hundreds sinks south of Sicily
Mon May 12, 2014 3:52pm GMT
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ROME May 12 (Reuters) - Italian naval and coast guard vessels recovered 14
bodies and rescued around 200 people after a migrant boat sank in waters
between Libya and southern Sicily, authorities said on Monday, a day after
dozens of people were drowned in a similar incident.
Italy has struggled for decades with a stream of migrants travelling in
small, unsafe boats from North Africa to the islet of Lampedusa, midway
between Tunisia and Sicily, and the Arab Spring upheavals of 2011 and the
continuing civil war in Syria has worsened the problem.
An Italian navy statement said two naval and two coast guard patrol boats
and a vessel from the Guardia di Finanza customs police had joined the
rescue operationon Monday and medical assistance was being provided to
survivors.
On Sunday, at least 40 people died and 51 others were rescued after a boat
carrying mostly sub-Sahara African migrants sank off Libya's coast east of
Tripoli.
Well over 25,000 migrants have reached Italy in the first few months of this
year. Libyan Navy spokesman Col. Ayoub Qassem said the numbers leaving had
increased in the past few days but authorities did not know why.
Hundreds of migrants were drowned in two separate disasters last year that
prompted the Italian government to step up air and marine patrols of the
seas south of Sicily. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli;
Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Received on Mon May 12 2014 - 13:10:54 EDT