Boat carrying 562 migrants capsizes

Unpublished
TRIPOLI - The deadly capsizing of a migrant boat in the Mediterranean has been caught on camera by the Italian navy as it rescued 562 people. The trawler overturned apparently as a result of people on board rushing to one side after spotting a rescue ship, and five were found dead. People clung desperately to the deck or dropped into the sea. Italy's Bettica patrol boat threw life rafts and jackets while another Italian ship sent rescue boats. The same patrol boat rescued a further 108 migrants in another incident later on Wednesday. Nearly 6,000 migrants trying to reach Europe illegally have been rescued from flimsy craft in the Mediterranean in recent days. Aid agencies say the sea-crossing between Libya and Italy is the main route for migrants since an EU deal with Turkey curbed the number sailing across the Aegean to Greece. Meanwhile, an unprecedented operation by the Italian navy is under way off the coast of Libya to recover the wreck of a migrant boat that sank in April last year. Up to 700 migrants died - the largest single loss of life in the Mediterranean in decades.(FA)

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