A boat carrying up to 300 terrified migrants from Libya earlier sank near an island off the coast of Italy while rescuers battled high winds to rescue them. Italian Coast Guard rescued 48 of them and a fishing boat picked up three others, but by nightfall some 250 still missing. Survivors told the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who swam in the darkness to the Coast Guard boats, but many others drowned for not knowing how to swim or being dragged by the other passengers terrified.
Coast Guard searching for survivors in what may have been one of the worst tragedies since January began a wave of illegal migration from North Africa to Italy, officials said. The wreck occurred 65 kilometers off the coast of Lampedusa, an Italian island closest to North Africa than to mainland Italy.
Pietro Carosi, the Coast Guard said the boat had left Libya and probably was at sea about two days. He said there were an estimated 200 people on board, although the IOM and survivors said they were about 300. The IOM reported that migrants and asylum seekers were from Bangladesh, Chad, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
Among them were five children and 40 women, of whom only two survived. Antonio Guterres, UN high commissioner for refugees, said many on board had sought asylum in Libya, only to be forced to flee the fighting in that country. "These people fled twice ... I urge all who patrol the Mediterranean Sea do everything possible to help ships in distress.
" Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed his condolences for the accident. This year, thousands of immigrants have been forced to take refuge in makeshift camps until Berlusconi tried to resolve the crisis by sending boats to pick up immigrants. However, it has simply shifted the problem to other areas of Italy and led to discussions among regional governments on where to build housing facilities for immigrants.
Lampedusa, about halfway between Sicily and Tunisia, has been the focus of the crisis after receiving about 20 thousand illegal immigrants-only this year, overwhelming the infrastructure of the tiny island that normally lives on fishing and tourism. The violence forced to flee to the North Africans mainly to the difficult European horizons.
Thousands of people risk the dangerous migration sparked by the collapse of the former Tunisian regime and after the outbreak of war in ending Libya's strict border controls that previously prevented access to Europe. Tunisians, Libyans, Egyptians, Moroccans, Sudanese, Algerians, among others, travel.
Most migrants are young Tunisian who try to get to France via Italy, but in recent days there have been increasing numbers of immigrants from Libya, underscoring fears that the fighting Italians could trigger a new exodus . According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), two thousand people from Libya, mainly African immigrants and asylum seekers have landed on Lampedusa in the past 10 days, yesterday, the scene of tragedy.
The incident on the Italian island provides a stark illustration of the risks faced by desperate people who can pay up to $ 427 billion through a hole in one of the overcrowded fishing boats carrying refugees and immigrants from Africa to Europe. 
Coast Guard searching for survivors in what may have been one of the worst tragedies since January began a wave of illegal migration from North Africa to Italy, officials said. The wreck occurred 65 kilometers off the coast of Lampedusa, an Italian island closest to North Africa than to mainland Italy.
Pietro Carosi, the Coast Guard said the boat had left Libya and probably was at sea about two days. He said there were an estimated 200 people on board, although the IOM and survivors said they were about 300. The IOM reported that migrants and asylum seekers were from Bangladesh, Chad, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
Among them were five children and 40 women, of whom only two survived. Antonio Guterres, UN high commissioner for refugees, said many on board had sought asylum in Libya, only to be forced to flee the fighting in that country. "These people fled twice ... I urge all who patrol the Mediterranean Sea do everything possible to help ships in distress.
" Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed his condolences for the accident. This year, thousands of immigrants have been forced to take refuge in makeshift camps until Berlusconi tried to resolve the crisis by sending boats to pick up immigrants. However, it has simply shifted the problem to other areas of Italy and led to discussions among regional governments on where to build housing facilities for immigrants.
Lampedusa, about halfway between Sicily and Tunisia, has been the focus of the crisis after receiving about 20 thousand illegal immigrants-only this year, overwhelming the infrastructure of the tiny island that normally lives on fishing and tourism. The violence forced to flee to the North Africans mainly to the difficult European horizons.
Thousands of people risk the dangerous migration sparked by the collapse of the former Tunisian regime and after the outbreak of war in ending Libya's strict border controls that previously prevented access to Europe. Tunisians, Libyans, Egyptians, Moroccans, Sudanese, Algerians, among others, travel.
Most migrants are young Tunisian who try to get to France via Italy, but in recent days there have been increasing numbers of immigrants from Libya, underscoring fears that the fighting Italians could trigger a new exodus . According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), two thousand people from Libya, mainly African immigrants and asylum seekers have landed on Lampedusa in the past 10 days, yesterday, the scene of tragedy.
The incident on the Italian island provides a stark illustration of the risks faced by desperate people who can pay up to $ 427 billion through a hole in one of the overcrowded fishing boats carrying refugees and immigrants from Africa to Europe.
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