6 bodies found in migrant dinghy, 108 rescued

Italy President says hundreds of migrants appear to have died in the new migrant disaster

Six bodies were recovered and 108 migrants were rescued from a semi-submerged rubber dinghy, Italy’s coast guard said on Monday, as boat arrivals accelerate amid calm seas.

A private rescue ship called Aquarius run by humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee found the bodies on the rubber dingy on Sunday, a coast guard spokesman said. Five women were among those rescued. The coast guard had no details about the nationality of the migrants. The migrants and the six corpses are being taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa, the coast guard said.

One of the survivors told the Aquarius crew there had been at least 135 people on board when the overcrowded vessel left the Libyan port of Sabratha.

Eight of the passengers were confirmed dead: six corpses were recovered in the dinghy and two were carried away by the waves after a mass panic resulted in dozens falling into the water as the rescue boat approached.

The dinghy, at that point, was already half-deflated and taking on water with the motor having given out some nine hours after it embarked from Libya on Sunday.

The survivors were nationals of 11 different African countries. According to the International Organisa-tion for Migration, a total of 352 migrants perished in the waters between Libya and Italy between the start of this year and April 15.

Several hundred people appear to have died in a new migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said on Monday.

Unconfirmed media reports earlier on Monday spoke of up to 400 victims from boats which capsized near the Egyptian coast as they attempted to sail to Europe.

Mr Mattarella, speaking at a prize giving ceremony in Rome, said Europe needed to reflect in the face of “yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean in which, it seems, several hundred people have died.” He did not give any further details. The Italian coastguard said earlier on Monday they knew nothing about the reported disaster.

More than 24,000 migrants have made it to Italy, almost all of them having been picked up at sea by boats participating in a multinational search and rescue operation coordinated by the Italian coastguard.

SOS Mediterranee operates the Aquarius in partnership with medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF). Sunday’s operation came a day after the boat rescued 116 migrants from another stricken dinghy, three of whom had bullet wounds.

Separately, Italy’s coast guard rescued 33 migrants from a small island off the eastern coast of Sicily on Sunday.

Almost 6,000 migrants and refugees sailed from Libya to Italy last week in what appears to be the start of a wave of at least 1,00,000 and “possibly many, many more” this year, the International Organisation for Migration said on Friday.