The bodies of 10 migrants have been recovered from a wooden boat carrying 61 migrants off the Libyan coast. They are said to have died of poisoning caused by gasoline fumes on the boat. German NGO Rescueship confirmed this information.
German charity Rescueship said they rescued 51 people from a sinking wooden boat off the island of Lampedusa on Monday (June 17). At that time, the bodies of 10 people were found on the lower deck of the boat.
The agency said the survivors were taken ashore after being handed over to the Italian coastguard on Monday morning. But the dead have been taken to the island of Lampedusa.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN children's agency UNICEF said in a joint statement that the boat had set to sail from Libya. It included immigrants from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, the number of passengers from different countries were not reported.
More than 60 people went missing in a separate boat capsizing incident on the same day. As many as 26 children among them. The incident occurred about 125 miles off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy. An organization called Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported this information.
12 people were rescued alive in this incident. However, after all of them were taken ashore, one died, the Italian Coast Guard said.
The Mediterranean Sea is known as the deadliest migration route in the world. According to UN data, more than 23,500 migrants have died or gone missing on
