Roughly 500 refugees and migrants are
on a boat in distress in the Italian search and rescue (SAR)
zone, Alarm Phone tweeted Friday.
The Mediterranean sea rescue hotline said it had alerted the
authorities.
"No time to lose: send help immediately," said Alarm Phone.
The boat reportedly departed from Libya.
"The civil rescue telephone Alarm Phone and the NGO Mediterranea
Saving Humans have been reporting since early this morning a
situation of serious danger for 500 people, including dozens of
women and children, who are on board a fishing boat off Sicily
in the Ionian Sea," the Green-Left Alliance deputy whip Marco
Grimaldi told the Lower House on Friday.
"All authorities have been notified, but the boat is already
taking in water," he continued, adding that the National
Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (M.R.C.C.) in Rome had told
him Coast Guard boats would be deployed.
"We now hope that all the people on the boat will be rescued,"
he concluded.
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