ITALY: More than 60 people were dead or missing yesterday after what was feared to be one of the Mediterranean's worst migration disasters. Revenue guards and carabinieri found 12 bodies on a beach and in shallow waters near Gela on the south coast of Sicily.
Survivors who landed from a boat that they claimed had cast off from Libya said as many as 49 fellow passengers were missing.
The local coastguard commander, Raffaele Macauda, said that some might have disappeared into the countryside. But he added: "Others could still be in the sea and we are continuing to look for them."
Early yesterday, passers-by had noticed an old fishing boat grounded on a sandbank less than 50 metres from land. An inflatable launch was ferrying people to the shore. The carabinieri arrested the two suspected traffickers alleged to have been operating the launch and later detained five others.
Nine bodies were found on the beach and three in the water. The journey had left several of the mostly young survivors sick or exhausted, with one woman in a very serious condition.
Exposure, aggravated by hunger and thirst, is the most common cause of death among the thousands who set off every year from North Africa in inshore fishing vessels. Two other boats were spotted in Italian waters yesterday, each laden with around 150 people.