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Dozens of migrants feared drowned off Libya coasts: Italy's coast guard

Xinhua, September 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Dozens of migrants were feared to have drowned in a latest incident off the coasts of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Italian coast guard said on Friday.

The migrants were on board of an inflatable craft sailing some 40 km north of Libya, when their craft began to sink on Thursday.

Three vessels from Italy's coast guard and a fourth from Finance Police approached the boat and rescued 91 people, recovering the body of a migrant around the sinking dinghy, a coast guard spokesperson told Xinhua.

The inflatable craft was carrying around 115 people on board, and there would be at least 23 migrants missing, according to what survivors said to the coast guard.

However, other survivors spoke of between 120 and 140 migrants being on board, the IOM said.

"Our operators spoke to several survivors, and were told these figures," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo told Xinhua. "These inflatables usually carry at least 120 migrants, so we believe the numbers are true. As such, we estimate 30 to 40 people might be missing."

The dinghy had left the Libyan shores near Misrata in the night between Wednesday and Thursday, and started deflating after some eight hours of sailing, according to IOM.

"People on board panicked, and started moving to find the safest position. That was when some migrants fell into the sea, and only a certain number among them were able to get back aboard," Di Giacomo said.

The coast guard said it carried out careful researches around the inflatable during the rescue operations, but did not recover any more bodies, nor detect any sign of further victims.

The IOM said most of survivors were Somali, with some people from Sudan and Nigeria. They were all taken to the reception center on Lampedusa Island near Sicily.

Also on Thursday, Italy's coast guards rescued a second inflatable carrying 105 people. Among these migrants, a 24-year-old Nigerian woman gave birth to a boy after being transferred to the Italian military vessel, the coast guard said. Endit