Rome, May 24 - At least 20 people are dead after a migrant-boat wreck some 30 miles from the Libyan coast, Coast Guard sources said Wednesday. The boat was headed towards Italy with around 500 asylum seekers on board when it capsized and sent some 200 migrants into the water, sources said. A search has been launched for the other people who ended up in the sea, with more drownings feared. The rescue effort is being coordinated by the Coast Guard in Rome. </s> ROME >> The Italian coast guard says at least 20 migrants have died after their vessel capsized off Libya’s coast.

The coast guard says the ship was carrying about 500 people. At a certain point, either a wave hit or the migrants shifted to one side and about 200 of them ended up in the water.

Officials intervened and rescued most, but at least 20 bodies were seen. The coast guard, which is coordinating migrant rescues, has dispatched other rescue vessels to the area to try to find any survivors.

The incident was one of 15 rescue operations over the past day that have saved some 1,700 people. </s> At least 31 migrants drowned after an inflatable boat carrying 500 people capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, Italian Coast Guard said.

The tragedy occurred some 50 km off the coast of Libya on Wednesday, when the dinghy was struck by a large wave and keeled to one side, causing 200 people to fall into the sea, Efe news reported.

The coast guard, along with a tow boat and a ship belonging to the Maltese NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station, rescued some of the migrants from the sea and picked up those who remained on the raft, but they also found at least 31 corpses floating in the water.

“Not a scene from a horror movie…Real life tragedy unfolding on Europe’s doorstep today!” MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone tweeted, alongside a picture that showed many people in the water.

The precarious vessel had departed on Tuesday night from the port city of Zuwara, in northern Libya.

More than 50,000 migrants have reached Italy so far in 2017, a 46 per cent increase compared to last year, according to data provided by the Italian interior ministry. </s> The bodies of at least 34 migrants, many of them young children, were recovered from the sea off Libya after some 200 migrants tumbled into rough waters when their overcrowded smugglers' boat capsized Wednesday, the Italian coast guard said.

"Many of the bodies are small toddlers," tweeted Chris Catambrone of the non-profit group MOAS, which was helping in the rescue effort.

MOAS tweeted photos showing survivors in orange life vests bobbing in Mediterranean waters as they awaited rescue.

"The immediate intervention of the coast guard boat Fiorillo and the MOAS boat Phoenix permitted the rescue of the majority of the migrants who had fallen into the water," the Italian coast guard said in a statement Wednesday evening.

Earlier in the day, the coast guard said some 200 of 500 migrants aboard had fell into the sea, either because a big wave hit the vessel or many migrants suddenly shifted to one side.

The capsizing incident was one of several rescue operations coordinated by the Italian coast guard. In all, some 1,800 migrants were rescued Wednesday from unseaworthy dinghies or wooden fishing boats. A commercial tugboat and three cargo ships in the vicinity were pressed into service to save lives, along with vessels from the Italian navy, a European patrol force and non-profit vessels, the coast guard said. </s> CLOSE Hopes are fading for 44 people still missing more than a day after an overcrowded speedboat carrying Indonesian migrant workers capsized and sunk in rough seas, claiming at least 18 lives. Newslook

A handout frame video provided on Oct. 5, 2016 and released by the Italian Coast Guard shows migrants boarding a ship during a rescue operation conducted off the Italian coast near Lampedusa. (Photo: ITALIAN COAST GUARD / HANDOUT, EPA)

Hundreds of migrants are believed to have drowned after two boats sank off the coast of Libya, a United Nations official said Thursday.

Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), said at least 239 people were dead, Reuters reported. She said two survivors who were taken ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa told authorities that the rubber dinghies they were traveling in capsized Wednesday in heavy seas shortly after leaving Libya.

The first boat sank when wooden planks at the bottom broke, causing the dinghy to capsize 25 miles off the Libyan coast, the UNHCR said. Among the 140 people on board were six children and about 20 women, some pregnant. Twenty-nine people were rescued, and 12 bodies were recovered.

Two women found swimming at sea told rescuers that 128 other people had died in their wreck.

“I am deeply saddened by another tragedy on the high seas,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said. “So many lives could be saved through more resettlement and legal pathways to protection. The Mediterranean is a deadly stretch of sea for refugees and migrants, yet they still see no other option but to risk their lives to cross it.”

Most people on board appeared to have been sub-Saharan Africans, the Associated Press reported.

The International Organization for Migration said 4,220 people have died so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. Last month, UNHCR said more than 3,800 people were dead or missing in the Mediterranean in 2016, making it the highest figure ever.

The refugee crisis escalated in 2015 as more and more people fled regional conflicts and made the journey across the Mediterranean in hopes of a better life in Europe. Most refugees are from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The vast majority of fatalities occur on the treacherous route between Libya and Italy, according to the Global Migration Data Analysis Center in Berlin.

Also Thursday, human rights organization Amnesty International said in a report that pressure on Italy from the European Union to “get tough” on migrants has led to incidents that may amount to torture.

Allegations made in the report against authorities include beatings, electric shocks and sexual humiliation.

“In their determination to reduce the onward movement of refugees and migrants to other member states, EU leaders have driven the Italian authorities to the limits – and beyond – of what is legal,” Matteo de Bellis, Amnesty International’s researcher on Italy, said in a statement.

“The result is that traumatized people, arriving in Italy after harrowing journeys, are being subjected to flawed assessments and in some instances appalling abuse at the hands of the police, as well as unlawful expulsions.”

The Italian authorities didn't immediately respond to the claims.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2fhYOFK </s> Rome: At least 34 migrants, most of them toddlers, drowned on Wednesday, as coastguard boats and other vessels tried to save hundreds of others packed into boats off the coast of Libya, rescuers said.

One of a group of boats listed suddenly, sending about 200 people tumbling into the Mediterranean, Italian Coast Guard commander Cosimo Nicastro told Reuters.

"At least 20 dead bodies were spotted in the water," he said. Rescue group MOAS said it had already recovered 34 bodies. "Most are toddlers," the group`s co-founder Chris Catrambone said on Twitter.

The coast guard called in more ships to help with the rescue, saying about 1,700 people were packed into about 15 vessels.

More than 1,300 people have died this year on the world`s most dangerous crossing for migrants fleeing poverty and war across Africa and the Middle East.

In the past week, more than 7,000 migrants have been plucked from unsafe boats in international waters off the western coast of Libya, where people smugglers operate with impunity.

Despite efforts by Italy and the European Union to bolster the Tripoli-based coast guard and funnel training and equipment to fight trafficking to the U.N.-backed government, record numbers of migrants are coming this year.

More than 50,000 migrants have been rescued at sea and brought to Italy so far, a 46 percent increase on the same period of last year, the Interior Ministry said this week.

Most rescues take place just outside the 12-mile mark that separates Libyan territory from international waters.

It is a busy stretch of sea where humanitarian vessels, the Libyan Coast Guard and even scavengers hoping to recover abandoned migrant boats and their engines all operate.

The Libyan Coast Guard on Tuesday fired shots as non-governmental vessels conducted rescues nearby, humanitarian group Jugend Rettet, which operates the Iuventa rescue ship, said on its Facebook page.

The shooting prompted about 100 migrants to jump into the water and swim toward humanitarian vessels. It was unclear if anyone had been killed or wounded. The Libyans then towed two migrant boats back to shore while humanitarian groups brought more than 1,000 on board. </s> ROME — The Italian coast guard says 6,055 migrants have been rescued in one day in the Mediterranean off Libya. Nine bodies were recovered.

The coast guard said it a total of 39 rescues Monday in the sea about 30 miles north of Tripoli. Smugglers took advantage of the first day of calm seas after days of rough waters to launch vessels crowded with migrants who pay them in hopes of reaching European shores.

Most of the vessels were rubber dinghies, but there were also two rafts.

Doctors Without Borders said the dead included a 23-year-old pregnant woman.

Italian coast guard and navy ships, as well as vessels in European Frontex sea patrols and several humanitarian organizations, participated in the rescues.

Two migrants needing medical care were flown to Sicily's Lampedusa island. </s> At least 20 dead bodies have been seen in the sea some 30 miles off the coast of Libya, Italy's Coast Guard said on Wednesday, as efforts to rescue some 1,700 people packed onto 15 boats continued. "About 200 people fell into the water when one of the boats listed dangerously," Coast Guard Commander Cosimo Nicastro told Reuters.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Star Online. </s> ROME—The bodies of at least 34 migrants, many of them young children, were recovered from the sea off Libya after some 200 migrants tumbled into rough waters when their overcrowded smugglers’ boat capsized Wednesday, the Italian coast guard said.

“Many of the bodies are small toddlers,” tweeted Chris Catambrone of the non-profit group MOAS, which was helping in the rescue effort.

MOAS tweeted photos showing survivors in orange life vests bobbing in Mediterranean waters as they awaited rescue.

“The immediate intervention of the coast guard boat Fiorillo and the MOAS boat Phoenix permitted the rescue of the majority of the migrants who had fallen into the water,” the Italian coast guard said in a statement Wednesday evening.
The Italian Coast Guard reports that at least 20 migrants are killed when their 500-passenger boat capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya's coast. About 1,700 people have been rescued in 15 operations since Tuesday.