ROME: The bodies of 19 migrants were recovered from an inflatable boat south of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday by the Italian coastguard, a spokesman told AFP. Fifty-eight other people, including five children, were found alive during the rescue in the early hours of Wednesday and transported to Lampedusa, according to coastguard spokesman Roberto D´Arrigo.
Lampedusa mayor Filippo Mannino said seven people, including two children, were being treated in hospital for “hypothermia and intoxication from hydrocarbon fumes”.
The coastguard rescue was staged some 135 kilometres (85 miles) off the Italian island inside Libyan search-and-rescue waters.
The boat was spotted drifting by an Italian reconnaissance plane on Tuesday but there were no Libyan coastguard or civilian ships in the area to assist, D´Arrigo said.
A decision was taken to send an Italian coastguard vessel from Lampedusa.
D´Arrigo said some of the migrants may have died while being transported back to Lampedusa in particularly rough weather conditions with waves up to seven metres high.
