A pregnant woman and a three-year-old child are believed to be among the 92 bodies recovered after a migrant boat ran aground off the coast of Sicily, the coast guard has reported.
The incident is the second deadly grounding this week, after 13 men drowned on Monday just a few metres away from Southern Sicily's shore.
Pietro Bartolo, the top health official on Lampedusa, told Sky Tg24 that over 200 were still unaccounted for. He expected the toll to rise as search operations continue.
Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini told Tg24 earlier that 82 bodies had been found and that search and rescue operations were continuing.
Ms Nicolini told reporters that the death toll was rising as bodies were being laid out in the harbour.
"It's horrific, like a cemetery, they are still bringing them out", she said. "It's an immense tragedy."
Ms Nicolini said the ship had caught fire after those on board set off flares so it would be seen by passing ships.
So far 141 people have been rescued, but the boat is believed to have been carrying as many as 500 people, according to reports.
Coast Guard ships and helicopters from across the region, as well as local fishing boats, were on the scene trying to find survivors in the sea, said Coast Guard spokesman Marco Di Milla. The operation was taking place off the Isola dei Conigli, or Rabbit Island.
The migrants aboard the boat were from Eritrea, Ghana and Somalia, he said.
A fishing boat raised the alarm at around 7:20 a.m. (0520 GMT) and began pulling people out of the water before coastguard vessels arrived on the scene.
Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is a frequent destination for smugglers' boats.
Thursday 3 October 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-migrant-boat-92-dead-after-ship-sinks-off-lampedusa-8855735.html
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