At least two die, 22 rescued from migrant boat off Sicily
At least two people died when a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, Italy’s coastguard said on Monday.
The coastguard said rescue vessels had picked up 22 people from the boat, and search operations for other survivors were underway after an alert was received late on Sunday night that a boat carrying some 50 people was in difficulty.
Vessels from the coastguard and customs police had reached the boat, which overturned in rough seas about six nautical miles from the coast of Lampedusa, the coastguard said in a statement. Two bodies had been recovered, it added.