25 found dead on boat carrying refugees off Italy

25 found dead on boat carrying refugees off Italy

2011-08-01 14:15:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (BNO NEWS) -- The Italian Coast Guard on early Monday morning found the bodies of 25 men in a boat which was carrying hundreds of refugees off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the ANSA news agency reported.

The report said the vessel was detected on Sunday evening when it was about 56 kilometers (35 miles) off Lampedusa. It was later met by two Coast Guard vessels who accompanied the small vessel to the port of Lampedusa until the boat's engine broke down, about one mile (1.6 kilometer) from the port.

After the engine breakdown, the migrants were transferred onto the Coast Guard vessels, ANSA said. At that point, crew members of the Coast Guard vessels discovered the remains of 25 migrants, all mostly young men. It was not immediately known how the men died.

ANSA said the 15-meter (49-feet) vessel was carrying a total of 271 migrants, including 36 women and 21 children.

Since the beginning of February, the island of Lampedusa has been overwhelmed by the arrival of more than 20,000 migrants. The majority of them were Tunisian, but many Libyans fleeing their conflict-ridden country have now landed on the island.

In April, a boat carrying around 300 migrants sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa and only about 50 people were rescued. It had earlier left the Libyan coast with migrants and asylum seekers from Somalia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-08-01