ROME – One person is dead and about fifty others are missing after a shipwreck occurred 100 miles off Italy’s southern coast, local media reported on Monday.
The incident happened in the central Mediterranean when a sailing boat capsized 100 miles off the coast of Calabria, according to the Ansa news agency.
A merchant ship in the area conducted the initial rescue, saving twelve people and assisting them until an Italian coast guard vessel arrived. One woman died shortly after disembarkation due to severe medical conditions.
A search and rescue mission is underway, but no other survivors have been found as of Monday afternoon, state-run Rai News 24 reported.
Preliminary information from rescued migrants suggests the boat set sail from Turkey, carrying migrants and refugees from Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the shipwreck, the latest in a long string of deadly incidents involving economic migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean.
In a separate incident on Monday, at least 51 people were rescued and ten found dead on a boat adrift in Malta’s waters by the German NGO ResQship.
The Italian Interior Ministry reportedly ordered the ship to dock in Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost hotspot, where survivors will receive assistance.
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