The Italian authorities recovered
five dead bodies bodies while rescuing 61 people from a sinking
migrant boat in waters south of Sicily, ANSA sources said
Monday.
A search has started for missing people as the boat is
thought to have been carrying around 80 people.
The news comes a day after another migrant-boat disaster in
waters between Libya and Malta in which 29 people, including a
small child, died.
The two incidents are only the latest in a long series of
migrant disasters, as Italy struggles to cope this year with a
huge increase in the already big flow of migrants to attempt the
hazardous crossing from North Africa.
Monday's rescue was conducted as part of the Mare Nostrum
operation Italy launched after some 400 migrants died in two
separate disasters in October.
Sunday's deaths prompted Premier Matteo Renzi to reiterate
his call for the European Union to do more to help Italy cope
with the migrant crisis.
"Europe must change its immigration policy," Renzi said in
Angola on Sunday during a tour in Africa that also takes in
Mozambique and the Republic of Congo.
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