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Migrant Boats Capsize Off Italy And Near Egypt

An Italian student holds a paper boat reading "How many tombs without names in Lampedusa, No to Bossi Fini" in reference to the recent tragedy near Lampedusa island where at least hundreds of immigrants drowned and the Bossi-Fini anti-immigration law.
Filippo Monteforte
/
AFP/Getty Images
An Italian student holds a paper boat reading "How many tombs without names in Lampedusa, No to Bossi Fini" in reference to the recent tragedy near Lampedusa island where at least hundreds of immigrants drowned and the Bossi-Fini anti-immigration law.

Two separate incidents left dozens of migrants dead, when their boats capsized on Friday.

First, a boat capsized off the Coast of Egypt and 12 migrants died and 116 were rescued. Then, 27 migrants died and 221 were rescued after a boat capsized off the coast of Italy.

Of course, this comes about a week after a similar incident left 339 dead because of a capsized boat near Italy.

The BBC reports on the Egypt accident:

"Alexandria's security chief, Amin Ezzeddin, told the BBC that the survivors of the latest incident included 40 Syrians, 72 Palestinians and four Egyptians.

"More than 3,400 refugees have attempted to make an illegal crossing from Egypt over to Europe since August this year, according to the UNHCR.

"Many are Syrian and Palestinians escaping conflict in their countries."

The AP reports on the accident near Italy:

"Late Friday, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reported that 27 bodies had been recovered, three of them children.

"He said 150 survivors were rescued aboard a Maltese ship. An Italian patrol boat had another 56 survivors, while a fishing boat had 15, said Cmdr. Marco Maccaroni of the Italian navy. Between the Italian and Maltese ships, the total of survivors came to 221, though it wasn't clear if the injured who were flown by helicopter to Lampedusa were included in that figure.

"The incident occurred as recovery operations continued Friday off Lampedusa for victims of the Oct. 3 shipwreck. The death toll stood Friday at 339, including a newborn recovered with its umbilical cord still attached, [coast guard spokesman Marco] Di Milla said."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.