A further 375 people were transferred to the Irish naval vessel from an Italian ship last night.
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“As Italy reeled from the latest disaster, the navy said it had not given up on attempts to recover the bodies of victims of a previous shipwreck in April, in which 800 people were feared drowned”. Italian military helicopters lowered inflatable rafts.
The five “allegedly caused the ascertained deaths of 26 people and the presumed deaths of about 200, who, according to what witnesses say, were closed inside the boat which overturned”, the police added, estimating a total of 650 migrants had been aboard the 20-meter-long fishing boat. Safer places on board cost more; life vests were sold separately as extras, police said.
The couple, who simply identified themselves as Samuel and Christina, had lived in Libya for about three years before getting on the boat to Italy.
Its sister ship, the LÉ Eithne, brought more than 3,376 migrants to safety during its seven-week deployment that began on 16 May.
On Saturday more than 400 migrants were picked up mostly off the Libyan coast in operations in which the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) vessel Bourbon Argos also took part, the coastguard said.
Pope Francis on Friday said refusing to help migrants at sea is tantamount to killing them.
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The global Organization for Migration has announced that more than 192,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year.
