Italy: Bodies of 5 migrants recovered off Lampedusa

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) - Italian authorities recovered bodies of five women migrants off the coast of southern Lampedusa island on Sunday, local media reported.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, a boat carrying migrants capsized off Lampedusa on Saturday and the authorities rescued 149 people.

The search and rescue operations are ongoing despite bad weather conditions.

More than 89,000 irregular migrants and refugees have reached Europe by sea since the beginning of 2019. As many as 1,091 died at sea during the same period, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

At least 30,500 migrants died between 2014 and 2018 while making the treacherous journey to Europe, the IOM had said in January.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara