Libya’s coast guard said that they have retrieved four bodies from the two capsized boats they have found.
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The European Union’s anti-trafficking naval force in the Mediterranean, known as Operation Sophia, said there may be 20 to 30 fatalities from the latest sinking in the Mediterranean Sea, about 48 to 64 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) off Libya.
Italian Navy ship Vega plucked about 135 people off a “half-submerged” large rubber boat in one of 17 operations coordinated by the coastguard on Friday.
The survivors of the first shipwreck, which happened Wednesday, said some 650 people were aboard their boat when it left chaos-wracked Libya.
Nicastro said 88 people had been rescued from the wooden boat.
All told, the Italian coastguard said it had helped save 4,000 migrants today, in 22 operations. The Italian navy said it had recovered five bodies from the overturned migrant ship.
It remains unclear how many boats capsized in total as the Italian coast guard claimed they were only in the area of one ship that sank. Thursday’s wreck comes a day after another boat capsized on the same route killing at least five.
Horrific scenes of people clinging desperately to the upturned boat or dropping into the sea were caught on camera. Filippo Marini. In total, more than 10,000 migrants have been rescued this week by various worldwide agencies.
A bout of good weather as summer arrives has kicked off a fresh stream of boats attempting to make the perilous crossing from Libya to Italy. The images showed a rickety fishing boat tipping over, sending hundreds of people – many clad in orange life vests – tumbling into the sea.
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“Measures to tackle the problem must be taken before the people journey to Europe, and we must do everything we can to stop the lucrative business of smuggling and build resilience and stability in the Middle East and Africa”. In 2015, 200,000 refugees landed in Greece and 110,000 more arrived in Italy.
