Roundup: Nearly 400 rescued in new migrant disaster off Libya

Nearly 400 migrants were rescued on Thursday after their boat run into trouble off the Libyan coast a day after a similar disaster killed at least 25 migrants and left dozens missing in the same area, Italian reports said.

There were dozens of women and children from Syria, Bangladesh and Sub-Saharan Africa among the migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard, which had a ship in the area as part of a search and rescue mission for those missing from Wednesday's wreckage. Some were flown to hospital.

Meanwhile, a total of 367 people were taken to Palermo, the capital city of Sicily island region, along with the corpses of 25 who drowned just about 15 miles north of Libya on Wednesday. The sudden movement of all migrants onboard towards the same side of the boat to ask for help when they saw a vessel approaching caused the capsizing.

"There are at least three children among the victims," a spokesperson from Save the Children, Giovanna Di Benedetto, told Italian Rai State television after the migrants were taken to Palermo. "Every time it is a torture to see parents looking for their children among the corpses. Some of them still hope to find their beloved ones alive somewhere else," she added.

Di Benedetto stressed that children are the most vulnerable victims. "They are victims twice. They flee African poverty and unrest-stricken nations, where it often happens that they lose one or both parents. Then they risk their own life too," she said.

Rai reported that around 200 people could be still missing in the disaster, because according to survivors' accounts there were around 600-650 people onboard the metal boat, with many travelling in the hold. The Italian coast guard said it was continuing to coordinate the search on Thursday.

"We try to be a consolation for their stress," Chiara Montaldo, who coordinates the teams of Doctors Without Borders in Sicily, providing medical and psychological care to migrants rescued from boats in the Mediterranean, said.

"Rescuers have described to us a dramatic situation in which the migrants were all shocked. Most of them had to remain in the water for almost two hours before they were saved, so that dread added to the tragedy," she went on saying.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 2,000 migrants have died so far in 2015 at sea while trying to reach European shores.

Figures of the Italian interior ministry showed the country had received 82,464 migrants by sea by the second half of July, as much as 9 percent more compared to the same period last year.

In a joint statement released on Thursday, European Commission (EC) First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, High-Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said that "just one life lost is one too many."

"The European Union (EU) is working hard to prevent these terrible tragedies. We have tripled the resources dedicated to search and rescue efforts at sea, allowing us to rescue over 50,000 people since 1 June 2015," the statement read saying there is no simple answer to the challenges posed by migration, and nor can any member State effectively address migration alone.

After increasing its presence at sea through naval operations, the EU aims at cooperating with countries of origin and transit.

"To this end we will hold a summit in Valletta in November with key African countries to clamping down on smuggling networks, making returns more effective and showing solidarity with frontline countries, we need to tackle this challenge from all angles," the statement underlined. Endit