ROME (AP) — Rescuers found 10 bodies of suspected migrants Monday under the deck of a wooden boat off Italy’s tiny island of Lampedusa, German aid group Resqship said, as the Italian coast guard searched for missing people from another shipwrecked ship ago off the coast of Italy. south coast of the country.
The crew aboard Resqship’s boat, the Nadir, “is currently caring for 51 people. The rescue came too late for ten people,” the group said in a message on X, formerly Twitter.
“A total of 61 people were on the wooden boat, which was full of water. Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious – they had to be cut loose with an axe,” it added. “The ten dead are on the flooded lower deck of the boat.”
The other search and rescue operation off the coast of Calabria began after a distress call from a French boat, sailing about 193.12 kilometers from the Italian coast, at the border of the SAR areas under the jurisdiction of Greece and Italy, the Italian coast. Guard said this in a statement.
After rescuers reported the presence of the half-sunken boat, they rescued twelve migrants from the ship. The survivors were taken to the Calabrian port of Roccella Jonica, where they were disembarked and entrusted to the care of medical personnel.
One of the migrants died shortly afterwards, the Coast Guard said. It was not immediately clear how many people were missing from that boat.
The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (IMRCC) of the coast guard in Rome immediately diverted two merchant ships sailing nearby to the scene of the rescue. Resources from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex have also helped.
