Coastguard vessels and three cargo ships south of Sicily rescue 941 people in seven separate operations but 10 die as boat capsizes

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

At least 10 migrants trying to reach Italy died when their rubber boat overturned in the southern Mediterranean, according to the coastguard.

The boat, which capsized on Tuesday about 50 miles north of Libya, was carrying about 130 people at the time, the coastguard said in a statement.



A coastguard ship in the area, already carrying 318 migrants rescued in a previous mission on Tuesday, managed to rescue most of the migrants, but 10 bodies were recovered.

Seven separate missions in a 24-hour period had rescued a total of 941 migrants, including 30 children and 50 women.

Last month, more than 300 people died trying to cross from Africa to Italy in a one-week period. Most of the boats leave from Libya, which is in a state of near-anarchy and where smugglers charge up to $2,000 (£1,200) for the crossing.

Italy ended its large-scale search-and-rescue mission, Mare Nostrum, last year because of the cost and amid criticism from some who said it merely encouraged people to make the crossing.

Mare Nostrum was set up after more than 360 migrants drowned when their boat capsized near the Italian coast in October 2013.

It has been replaced by an EU border control mission, Triton, that does not have a specific search-and-rescue mandate and which has fewer ships and a smaller area of operation that hugs close to the Italian coast instead of reaching toward Africa like Mare Nostrum did.