45 bodies found after migrant ship mishap

Syrian migrants arrive in Subang, Malaysia, on Saturday. Malaysia received 68 Syrian refugees, including 31 children, out of a total of the 3,000 it hopes to allow into the country, with hundreds more expected soon. (Photo: AFP)

The Italian Navy recovered the bodies of 45 migrants who drowned on Friday in the latest shipwreck, while dozens of others are still missing in the third major tragedy in the Mediterranean in as many days.

The Italian Coast Guard sent in rescue ships after a call for help that spoke of 350 people in the water, just a day after another shipwreck had left up to 30 dead.

With search efforts continuing late into the day, the Navy saved 130 people and was still searching for others, it said.

“The vessel Vega rescued 135 migrants from a sinking vessel. Forty-five bodies were recovered and search efforts are ongoing,” the Navy said on Twitter.

While the European Union has pushed hard to limit the influx of people fleeing war and poverty, a bout of good weather as summer arrives has kicked off a fresh stream of boats trying to make the perilous crossing from Libya to Italy.

The Coast Guard said about 1,900 people were saved on Friday from 16 vessels in distress, adding to an estimated 10,000 people already rescued near the Libyan coast in the past four days.

“It’s astounding. We are almost at the level of the Greek islands last year,” said Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the International Organi-sation for Migration, referring to a period when thousands arrived there from Turkey every day.

About 40,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy’s southern ports so far in 2016.

But in one of the worst tragedies in the Mediterranean recently, a fishing trawler with some 650 people capsized off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.

The Italian Navy, which captured the tragedy in a horrifying video that shows the boat roll over and dump its passengers into the water, was able to rescue about 560 people.

But at least five people died and 100 are still feared missing, according to many survivors who reported having lost a loved one or a fellow passenger. On Thursday, the EU said 30 migrants were believed to have died after another ship flipped over off Libya.