Rome - A boat overcrowded with migrants has capsized off the coast of Libya, the Italian navy said on Wednesday, with some 500 people rescued and seven bodies recovered so far.
Rome – A boat overcrowded with migrants has capsized off the coast of Libya, the Italian navy said on Wednesday, with some 500 people rescued and seven bodies recovered so far.
The accident happened after the Navy ship Bettica spotted the rickety vessel in “precarious conditions” while on routine patrols in the southern Mediterranean.
The Italian navy patrol boat Bettica saw that the vessel was in difficulty and approached it to hand out life jackets, but before it could begin a rescue the boat flipped over due to the sudden movement of the passengers, the Navy said in a statement.
Women and children were among those rescued, but no details of the migrants’ nationalities have been given.
“Shortly afterwards the boat overturned due to overcrowding. The Bettica, which had arrived nearby, threw life-rafts and jackets” to the migrants in the water,” the statement added.
More than 6,000 people have been rescued from the Mediterranean this week, bringing the number of people rescued and brought to Italy since the start of 2016 to nearly 40,000.
The overwhelming majority of those arriving in Italy so far this year have been from sub-Saharan Africa.
With MAP
