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A migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean on Thursday, an Italian coastguard spokesman said, and some 80 people are feared to have drowned while 24 have been rescued by coastguard vessels.
It is the second deadly incident in two days, the Italian navy said they rescued around 550 refugees and found five dead from a boat that capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast on Wednesday, further adding to waves of migrants attempting to enter Europe.
The wooden fishing boat packed full of refugees was approached by Italian navy patrol boat, Bettica but then boat suddenly flipped over and threw those on the deck into the water, due to a sudden movement of passengers.
Some climbed onto the overturned boat and others swam towards life boat and toward the Italian ship. Italian navy personnel were shown pulling refugees towards their vessel. Several smaller motor boats and a helicopter were used by the navy in the rescue. The nationalities of the refugees were not given.
Since the start of the week at least 38 similar boats carrying people across the southern Mediterranean have been rescued, with more than 6,000 people's lives being saved.
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Since the start of the year around 39,000 people have been rescued in the area. In the past two years, more than 320,000 refugees have landed by boat in Italy shores and an estimated 7000 died in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and officials fear that numbers will only increase.
“Its a miracle … You would expect them to save the people on the deck. But if they’ve saved 500 people, that means they’ve saved even the people who were inside. And that is very impressive,” Said Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesman from the IOM was quoted by the Guardian.
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