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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-ITALY
Bodies of 7 migrants on capsized boat found off Italy
ROME, Nov 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Rescue authorities found the bodies of
seven migrants, including five women, after their boat capsized off the
Italian island of Lampedusa, coastguard officials said Sunday.
A patrol boat recovered the bodies of three of the women and customs
workers found two more washed ashore after a vessel with some 150 people
aboard went down Saturday, the coastguard said.
Another two bodies were found Saturday on the beach at Cala Galera on
the south side of the island.
Survivors had said late Saturday around 20 people were missing after
coast guards reported rescuing nearly 150 migrants when their vessel
overturned around 1.5 miles (1.8 kilometres) off the coast.
The coastguard said rescue operations had been complicated by rough seas
“but also owing to the large number of people who fell into the water
simultaneously.”
Italian media reported one Eritrean man and a Libyan man as saying they
had lost their wives.
The public prosecutor in the Sicilian port of Agrigento announced an
investigation had been opened into the incident.
Spanish NGO Open Arms, which Thursday rescued 73 migrants in a separate
operation, meanwhile urged European governments to authorise “immediately”
the migrants’ disembarkation in a safe port, citing a “critical” situation.
“We continue to demand that people’s rights, established under
international conventions and maritime law, be respected,” tweeted Open Arms’
chef de mission Riccardo Gatti.
BSS/AFP/RY/1922 hrs