This caused the ship to capsize, spilling the migrants into the sea.
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A migrant boat has capsized in the Med Sea with at least 20 people feared dead while 100 have been rescued.
The coastguard has coordinated the rescue of around 900 migrants in seven different operations on Thursday.
On Wednesday five migrants died and more than 500 were rescued when an overcrowded fishing boat capsized – also off the Libyan coast.
Earlier estimates had put the toll of Wednesday’s disaster at five. “During that same period, deaths recorded at sea are over 8,100”, states the International Organization for Migration. The European Union’s naval force confirmed that at least 15 to 20 people had drowned in one ship.
Sonnino said that the operation was still ongoing, so the final number of victims is still unknown.
A boat packed with migrants capsized in the Mediterranean sea 65 kilometers from the Libyan coast.
Due to calm weather, more people are embarking on the perilous journey to Europe’s shore via the Mediterranean Sea. A European Union agreement to send migrants back to Turkey from Greece is forcing refugees to travel from North Africa to Europe, the group said.
It is the second incident in the same part of the Mediterranean, known as the Sicilian Channel, in two days. It comes just 24 hours after hundreds of migrants had to be rescued by Italy’s Coast Guard after a similar accident which saw several drown. Hours later, another 216 migrants were picked up from two boats off Zuwara, and the bodies of four migrants were found in the area, he said.
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Through Tuesday, total sea arrivals in Italy had fallen by 9 percent this year to 37,743, according to the Interior Ministry.
