Two killed, nearly 28 missing after ship wrecks off Italian coast

At least two migrants have died and dozens other are missing after two ships sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa

Lampedusa: At least two migrants have died and dozens other are missing after two ships sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa, Al Jazeera reported.

Following the sinkings, the Italian coastguard said on Sunday that it had retrieved two bodies and saved 57 people.

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According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 28 people were reported lost at sea by survivors on one boat, while three were reported missing from the second after both went down in stormy weather on Saturday.
Both were rickety iron boats believed to have set off from Sfax in Tunisia on Thursday.

One was carrying 48 people, the second 42, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, as cited by Al Jazeera.

An investigation into the shipwrecks has been opened in Agrigento, on the nearby Italian island of Sicily.

More than 2,000 people have arrived in Lampedusa in the last few days after being rescued at sea by Italian patrol boats and NGO groups, as strong winds further complicate the situation around the island.

Agrigento’s chief of police Emanuele Ricifari said the human traffickers putting migrants and refugees out to sea would have known rough seas were forecast.

Whoever allowed them, or forced them, to leave with this sea is an unscrupulous criminal lunatic, he told Italian media.

Rough seas are forecast for the next few days. Let’s hope they stop. It’s sending them to slaughter with this sea, he said.

Fire brigade and alpine rescue teams were ready Sunday to rescue some 20 persons trapped on a rocky section of Lampedusa’s coastline as the bad weather persisted.

They’ve been there since late Friday, when severe gusts caused their boat to be thrown into the rocks.

The Red Cross has given them food, drink, clothes, and emergency thermal blankets, but because of the high waves, the coastguard has been unable to save them at sea.

If the winds don’t die down, rescuers may start winching the victims up the 140-metre cliff to safety, CNN reported citing media reports.

The Central Mediterranean crossing from North Africa to Europe is most dangerous passage in the world, Al Jazeera reported.