41 Dead in Migrant Shipwreck in Central Mediterranean

Forty-one migrants died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean, the Ansa news agency reported on Wednesday, citing accounts from survivors who have just reached the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Ansa said four people who survived the shipwreck told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children, Reuters reported.

The boat set off on Thursday morning from Tunisia’s Sfax, a hot spot in the migration crisis, but capsized and sank after a few hours, the survivors were quoted as saying.

The survivors — three men and a woman from Ivory Coast and Guinea — said they were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred onto an Italian coast guard vessel.