At least 11 dead, dozens missing after migrant boat sinks off Italy

Sixty-four people are missing and several have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea after a ship capsized off the southern coast of Italy on Monday, United Nations agencies said in a statement.

In a separate shipwreck, rescue workers evacuated dozens of suspected migrants but found 10 bodies stuck under the deck of a wooden boat off the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, German aid group Rescueship wrote on the X social media platform on Monday.

The boat that crashed about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off Calabria had set sail from Turkey eight days ago, but caught fire and capsized, UN agencies said, citing survivors.

The Italian coastguard said in a statement that a search and rescue operation had been launched following a Mayday call by a French boat. The boat was sailing to a border area where Greece and Italy conduct search and rescue operations. UN agencies said the survivors and those missing at sea came from Iran, Syria and Iraq.

The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center immediately diverted two merchant ships sailing close to the scene of the rescue. Resources from the European border and coast guard agency Frontex have also helped.

The survivors were brought to the Calabrian port of Roccala Zonica, where they were disembarked and placed under the care of medical personnel. One of the 11 rescued migrants died soon after, the coastguard said.

During the second sinking, the crew of the rescue boat, Nadir, found 61 people in the wooden boat, which was filled with water.

“Our crews were able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious,” it added. “The 10 dead were submerged on the lower deck of the boat.”