Rome [Italy], October 29: A boat with migrants on board capsized off the coast of Sicily on Saturday, with the bodies of five drowned migrants later washed up on a beach in the west of the Mediterranean island, the ANSA news agency reported, citing the Italian coastguard. The search for missing persons was still ongoing on Saturday afternoon, with the coastguard and police task forces involved in the hunt for survivors. The capsized boat was an old and unseaworthy fishing vessel which overturned just a few metres off the coast of the Sicilian town of Marinella di Selinunte, sweeping those on board into the water, according to Italian media reports. The cause of the sinking remained unclear on Saturday. The boat reportedly departed from Tunisia for Italy in the middle of the week. It remained unclear how many people were aboard and whether anyone made it to shore unharmed. Many migrants repeatedly try to reach European Union islands in the Mediterranean Sea including the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Sicily and the independent republic of Malta. Other migrants have headed for the Italian mainland or Greek islands. (dpa)
The migrant journeys, many undertaken in unseaworthy vessels, have resulted in numerous devastating boat accidents, including some with scores of deaths.
The number of migrants attempting the journey to Europe has increased sharply this year. The Italian Interior Ministry has already counted almost 142,400 people who reached Italy by boat this year - in the same period last year, the figure was around 82,100 as of October 27.
Source: Qatar Tribune