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Rescue mission for 'immigrants'
25/07/2007 15:25 - (SA)
Rome - Search-and-rescue operations were under way on Wednesday off Sicily in response to distress calls from boats carrying would-be immigrants saying some had died en route, the ANSA news agency reported.
"One boat with 35 people aboard made an SOS at 68 nautical miles southeast of Lampedusa," Italy's southernmost island, said a spokesperson of the Palermo port authority.
ANSA said as many as five of them may have died during the ill-fated voyage, but the Palermo spokesperson could not confirm the report.
Another vessel saying it had 46 people and three bodies aboard also called for help by telephone from off the coast of Libya, according to ANSA.
A coastguard spokesperson said that an Italian ship was sent to look for that boat.
Also on Wednesday, the body of a would-be immigrant was found under a capsized dinghy 18 nautical miles from Sicily on the edge of Malta's territorial waters.
Amid signs that other people had probably been in the boat, rescue workers were searching the surrounding waters for other bodies, Italian maritime authorities said.
On Tuesday and Wednesday seven boats carrying a total of nearly 250 people succeeded in reaching Lampedusa under their own steam or were rescued nearby.
The past week has seen a surge in arrivals of boat people from north Africa, swamping the intake centre at Lampedusa, which has a capacity for only 190 people.
- AFP
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