A search and rescue operation by the Italian coast guard was continuing in the Mediterranean Sea, hours after two migrant boats ran into trouble near the Italian coast, Xinhua news agency reported.
A merchant ship in the area carried out initial rescue operations after launching an SOS call as it discovered a wooden boat in distress about 120 miles (193 km) off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy.
The merchant ship rescued 12 people and assisted them until an Italian coast guard ship arrived. According to the Coast Guard, one woman died shortly after disembarking from the ship due to serious medical conditions.
"The search for possible survivors of the boat wreck is ongoing," the Coast Guard said in a statement.,
The coast guard specified that two Italian patrol boats and an ATR42 aircraft were currently involved in the search, and that another patrol ship with medical teams would soon join them in the area. As of Monday evening, no other survivors have been found.
Local media quoted medical staff sources as saying that among the 66 people who are expected to die, 26 are minors.
The sailing boat left Turkey last week carrying migrants and asylum seekers from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Afghanistan, according to survivors' accounts.
Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the ship crash, the latest in a long series of deadly incidents involving economic migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.In an earlier incident, a rescue ship from the German aid group Reschship found 10 migrants dead and managed to rescue 51 others aboard a boat in Malta's waters not far from Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island.
According to Rai News 24, the survivors were mainly from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Syria. The ship was ordered by the Italian Ministry of the Interior to dock in Lampedusa, where survivors would receive aid.
Migrants traveling by boat through the central Mediterranean face dangerous conditions and high mortality rates due to weather conditions and poor quality ships. Nearly a thousand people have died or disappeared while crossing the Mediterranean Sea so far this year and 3,155 are projected to die in 2023, according to the UN International Organization for Migration.
A merchant ship in the area carried out initial rescue operations after launching an SOS call as it discovered a wooden boat in distress about 120 miles (193 km) off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy.
The merchant ship rescued 12 people and assisted them until an Italian coast guard ship arrived. According to the Coast Guard, one woman died shortly after disembarking from the ship due to serious medical conditions.
"The search for possible survivors of the boat wreck is ongoing," the Coast Guard said in a statement.,
The coast guard specified that two Italian patrol boats and an ATR42 aircraft were currently involved in the search, and that another patrol ship with medical teams would soon join them in the area. As of Monday evening, no other survivors have been found.
Local media quoted medical staff sources as saying that among the 66 people who are expected to die, 26 are minors.
The sailing boat left Turkey last week carrying migrants and asylum seekers from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Afghanistan, according to survivors' accounts.
Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the ship crash, the latest in a long series of deadly incidents involving economic migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.In an earlier incident, a rescue ship from the German aid group Reschship found 10 migrants dead and managed to rescue 51 others aboard a boat in Malta's waters not far from Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island.
According to Rai News 24, the survivors were mainly from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Syria. The ship was ordered by the Italian Ministry of the Interior to dock in Lampedusa, where survivors would receive aid.
Migrants traveling by boat through the central Mediterranean face dangerous conditions and high mortality rates due to weather conditions and poor quality ships. Nearly a thousand people have died or disappeared while crossing the Mediterranean Sea so far this year and 3,155 are projected to die in 2023, according to the UN International Organization for Migration.
