2 migrants dead, 1 missing after boat sinks off Italy’s coast

Rome, Aug 5 (IANS) Two persons died and another went missing in a migrant boat accident which took place two days ago, off the eastern coast of southern Italy’s Sicily, according to the country’s Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said on Sunday that it received a distress call from a boat located about 17 miles southeast of Syracuse carrying migrants, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol boat and plane to the area, but the occupants of the vessel ended up in the water as the patrol boat approached, it said in a statement.

Although 34 people were recovered from the water, one died upon arrival and another after reaching the hospital.

The search at sea for the missing person who was on board the vessel, which later sank, is currently underway, according to local media reports.

–IANS

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