Boat with 512 migrants, seven corpses aboard reaches Sicily

Palermo (Italy) May 15 (IANS/AKI) An Italian coastguard vessel docked in Sicily s western port city of Trapani on Monday with 512 migrants and the bodies of a further seven on board.

The migrants and the corpses were picked up in the Mediterranean at the weekend the coastguard said.

A further 14 migrants were rescued from a small fishing boat off Sardinia on Monday after setting sail from Algeria overnight they said.

The migrants were due to receive medical treatment at a migrant reception centre in Assemini according to the coastguard.

More than 45 000 people have reached Italy by boat from North Africa this year a more than 40 percent increase on the same period of 2016 says the International Organisation for Migration while over 1 200 migrants have died attempting the perilous sea crossing according to IOM

Most of the migrants arriving in Italy are now from sub-Saharan Africa or from Bangladesh.

--IANS/AKI
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