More
than half the people aboard a rubber boat carrying 53 African migrants
died when it capsized off Libya, Italy's Ansa news agency says.
Thirty-one
people drowned in the accident that occurred late Friday, and the rest
were rescued by a freighter and brought on Sunday to the southern
Italian island of Lampedusa, Ansa reported, citing the survivors.
Most of the migrants came from Nigeria, Gambia, Benin and Senegal, and the survivors were suffering from shock and hypothermia.
Italian authorities say more than 470 migrants have reached Italy in a 24-hour period.
Italian TV on
Sunday showed a wrecked motorised rubber dinghy that the Africans told
authorities had capsized after setting off from Libya's coast.
Each year,
thousands of migrants pay smugglers in hope of slipping ashore in Italy.
Many attempt the Mediterranean crossing during periods of calm warm
seas, as in recent days.
Media reports
said the camp where the migrants are housed on Lampedusa, which lies
between Tunisia and Sicily, is overcrowded with 1000 people staying
there although the camp has space for only 350 people.
Under
international law, Italian authorities have to check whether people they
rescue at sea have grounds to seek asylum. If not, they repatriate them
although the border police struggles to enforce the policy strictly.
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