Photo: Valentina Pop

In April we posted about the sinking of an overloaded fishing boat carrying Libyan refugees where over 200 drowned.   Today it was reported that another overloaded refugee boat in the roughly the same area sank with over 500 people aboard. Fortunately, the Italian Coast Guard is reported to have rescued all aboard.

Italy rescues 500 migrants after boat runs aground near Lampedusa island

Italian coast guard crews successfully rescued more than 500 Libyan refugees after their boat hit some rocks and ran aground near an Italian port on Sunday.  The pre-dawn incident happened near southern Island of Lampedusa.

The grounding sparked panic among many of the migrant workers, causing many of them to jump into the sea. However, Italian coast guard officials immediately came to their rescue and saved dozens of women and children from the water.

“There were about 500 people on board. It was a difficult situation. Our patrol boats couldn’t come close because of the shallow water,” Antonio Morana, a coast guard spokesman, said. Morana suspected a rudder malfunction on the vessel probably caused the incident, adding that the investigation is already underway.

Another coast guard official, Vittorio Alessandro, claimed that there were no casualties in the incident as they managed to save all passengers. Some passengers suffered minor injuries and were sent to hospital for treatment.

In a related development, another migrants’ boat carrying more than 800 refugees from Libya reached Lampedusa on Sunday. This is the second such arrival in less than a week.

Thanks to Phil Leon for passing on the news.