Most of the migrants were fleeing Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea and had hoped to reach Italy.
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On Monday morning the Italian president Sergio Mattarella said several hundred people appear to have died in a new migrant tragedy.
According to witnesses of that tragedy, the boat capsized when migrants rushed to one side of the ship after seeing a passing Portuguese vessel they thought was coming to their rescue. The boats in Monday’s accident capsized near Egypt.
Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni added: ‘We are looking for more details, information.
The Somali ambassador to Egypt, from where the migrants were believed to have departed, confirmed the reports.
The reported tragedy comes nearly a year after a fishing boat crowded with refugees sank in the Mediterranean, with around 800 people trapped inside.
Somali media outlets said rescue workers had so far only managed to save 29 passengers from the water.
Survivors have reportedly been taken to one of the Greek Islands.
However, they were involved in the rescue of 108 migrants from a semi-submerged rubber dinghy.
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Oxfam says Europe is failing to deal witht he migration crisis, with 10 thousand people trying to reach Europe between Libya and Italy in March alone.
