VIDEOs-80+ Die in Boat Sinking in Italy-Many Missing
 

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Dozens of Migrants Die in Italy Boat Sinking near Lampedusa


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Footage shows boat survivors reaching the port side at Lampedusa,
while bodies have been covered and lined up nearby


At least 82 people have died after a boat carrying migrants sank off southern Italy, reports say.

Rescue operations are continuing and officials warn the toll may rise.

Passengers reportedly threw themselves into the sea as the vessel got into trouble and Italian officials were quoted as saying that dozens of people were still in the water.
Earlier this week, 13 migrants drowned while trying to reach the coast of Sicily.

There are reports that a fire broke out on board, before the boat sank. There are believed to have been around 500 people on board.
More than 140 have so far been rescued.

Local media reports say that at least one child and a pregnant woman are among the dead.

At this time of year, when the Mediterranean tends to be calmer, vessels carrying migrants from Africa and the Middle East land on Italy's southern shores almost every day, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Rome.
But often the vessels are overcrowded and are not seaworthy. Over the years many have died when their boats have sunk, our correspondent adds.

The UN said almost 500 people were reported dead or missing at sea during 2012 in attempts to reach Europe.

To Be Continued......

re: VIDEOs-80+ Die in Boat Sinking in Italy-Many Missing
 

At least 80 Dead after Migrant Boat Sinks off Sicily

Published 03 October, 2013, Associated Press


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• FILE Photo of Similar Boat Taken on 30 Sept, 2013:
  
• A boat that carried a group of some 200 migrants lies on the shore in Sicily, Italy. (AP)

At least 80 people died when a ship carrying African migrants toward Italy caught fire and sank off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, spilling hundreds of passengers into the sea, officials said Thursday.

Antonio Candela, the government's health commissioner for Palermo, is quoted by LaPresse news agency as saying that 80 bodies have been found and that search and rescue operations are continuing.

So far 159 people have been rescued, but the boat is believed to have been carrying as many as 500 people.

It is one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in recent times and the second one this week off Italy: On Monday, 13 men drowned while trying to reach southern Sicily when their ship ran aground just a few yards from shore at Scicli.

Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini said the dead today, Thursday, included a child of about 3 and a pregnant woman. "It's an immense tragedy," she said.

Coast Guard ships and helicopters from across the region, as well as local fishing boats, were on the scene trying to find survivors in the sea, said Coast Guard spokesman Marco Di Milla. The operation was taking place off the Isola dei Conigli, or Rabbit Island.
The migrants were from Eritrea, Ghana and Somalia, he said.

Nicolini said the ship had caught fire after those on board set off flares so it would be seen by passing ships.

Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the frequent destination for smugglers' boats.


Bodies Start Arriving at Portside




Video Showing Similar Overloaded Unseaworthy Boat Full of Immigrants Trying to Reach Italy:



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Re: VIDEOs-80+ Die in Boat Sinking in Italy-Many Missing
 

At Least 80 People Dead Including a Child and a Pregnant Woman after Migrant Boat Carrying 500 Passengers Catches Fire and Sinks off Coast of Italy

• The migrant boat sank off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa this morning
• More than a hundred people were left in the water, officials said
• Dead include a child of three and a pregnant woman
  

By Daily Mail UK, 3 October 2013


At least 62 people have died after a ship carrying African migrants toward Italy caught fire and sank off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, spilling hundreds of passengers into the sea.

Antonio Candela, the government's health commissioner for Palermo, told Sky TG24 that 82 bodies have been found and that search and rescue operations are continuing.

So far 141 people have been rescued, but the boat is believed to have been carrying as many as 500 people.


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At least 82 people have died after a ship carrying African migrants toward Italy caught fire
and sank off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, spilling hundreds of passengers into the sea


It's the second deadly grounding this week following Monday's incident when 13 men drowned while trying to reach southern Sicily, just a few metres from the shore.

Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini told Sky Tg24 that so far 82 bodies had been found and that search and rescue operations were continuing.

She says the dead included a child of about age three and a pregnant woman.

Coast guard official Floriana Segreto said that rescue operations were continuing.


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Victims: Immigrants drowned off the coast of Sicily


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Horror: Rescuers pause to pay their respects to the victims of the tragedy


Four coast guard and police vessels and two helicopters were in the area.

Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the frequent destination for smugglers' boats.


THE DESPERATE JOURNEY TO ITALY

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