5 rescued migrants critical

2009-08-20 17:07

Rome - Five Eritreans were in a "critical condition" on Thursday after they were spotted in a dinghy off the Italian island of Lampedusa, police in nearby Sicily said.

The dinghy, some 12m long, may have contained dozens more would-be illegal immigrants when it set off from northern Africa nearly three weeks ago, a spokesperson told AFP from Palermo.

Authorities were investigating claims by the emaciated Eritreans that another 75 had died en route, but would wait to question the four men and one woman after their condition is stabilised, said the spokesperson at an operations centre in Palermo.

"They are too weak to talk to us now," he said.

Last year the Italian interior ministry recorded some 36 900 arrivals of boat people, most from Libya, a 75% increase from the year before.

Arrivals have fallen off since Tripoli and Rome signed an accord in May aimed at preventing migrants from taking off from Libya.

- SAPA