(ANSAmed) - ROME, MAY 30 - The Italian Navy ship Cigala Fulgosi on Thursday intervened to rescue 90 migrants aboard a rubber dinghy that had been in difficulty since Wednesday morning off the coast of Libya.
According to sources, the decision to intervene was made based on worsening weather and the fact that the boat was floating in dangerous condition without an engine.
The Alarm Phone hotline for migrant boats in distress in the Mediterranean on Thursday tweeted that it had spoken with migrants aboard the boat just past 8 a.m., and they reported a five-year-old girl had died on board.
The migrants said they saw a helicopter overhead and a ship not far off in the distance.
"They told us that the helicopter was still there and that the boat they saw was not a cargo but a military boat," Alarm Phone tweeted.(ANSAmed).
Italian Navy ship rescues migrants on struggling dinghy
90 people on board. Alarm Phone says five-year-old girl is dead