Around 30 missing after two shipwrecks off Lampedusa
Baku, August 7, AZERTAC
Around 30 people were reported to be missing early on Sunday after two shipwrecks overnight off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to ANSA.
The Coast Guard rescued 57 migrants, 47 men and 10 women, from the water and recovered two bodies, those of a woman and a child aged about 18 months, both Ivorians. Their bodies have been taken to the mortuary at the island's Cala Pisana cemetery.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) cultural mediations spoke to the survivors who reported that two boats had sunk.
The first is said to have had 48 people on board, 45 of whom were saved with three unaccounted for.
It is said to have gone down a few hours before the Coast Guard found the survivors some 23 miles south-east of Lampedusa.
The second was carrying 42 people from Sub-Saharan African, 14 of whom were picked up. Both boats are said to have departed from Sfax in Tunisia.
The waters in the Strait of Sicily have been extremely rough, with high winds whipping up big waves.
A group of around 20 migrants remained stranded on Lampedusa's Ponente rocks early on Sunday after the boat they were aboard sank on the night between Friday and Saturday.
The sea conditions made it impossible for Coast Guard boats to get to them and rescuers will try to reach them via land, sources said.
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