Nine more bodies found off southern Italy after migrant boat wreck

Rome [Italy], June 21: Nine more bodies have been found off the coast of Italy after a migrant boat carrying several dozen people capsized in the Mediterranean. The Italian coastguard pulled them out of the water about 100 kilometres from the mainland, authorities said on Thursday. This brings the number of confirmed fatalities to 17. It is feared that more than 40 bodies are still in the sea. The ship had set off from Turkey but capsized off the coast of the southern Italian region of Calabria on Monday night. Only 11 people were rescued. The survivors were picked up by a merchant ship when the boat was already half sunk. They were brought to the harbour of the Calabrian town of Roccella Ionica. The Interior Ministry in Rome has counted more than 23,000 people who reached Italy on boats this year. In the same period last year, the figure was almost 56,000. (dpa)
Source: Qatar Tribune