Authorities fear migrants' death toll from boat wreck could reach 300

LAMPEDUSA, Italy, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The death toll from a migrants' boat that wrecked and burned off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa stood at 110 and could reach 300, authorities said Friday.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said 110 bodies were at the island's morgue after the boat, bound from Libya, capsized and burned Thursday, ANSA reported.

Authorities said 200 people were unaccounted-for, CNN reported.

About 155 people had been rescued.

Alfano said rough seas made recovery operations difficult.

The boat carrying about 500 Somali and Eritrean migrants was taking on water, then fire spread through the vessel from a blanket lighted as signal for help, officials said.

Italy's government declared Friday a national day of mourning for the victims, CNN said.

Pope Francis expressed sadness and outrage over the accident, The New York Times reported.

"The word disgrace comes to me," the pope said. "Let us unite our efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again. Only a decided collaboration among all can help to stop them."

Lampedusa, about 70 miles from Tunisia, has been the point of entry to Europe for more than 200,000 refugees and migrants since 1999, CNN said.

Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for the European Union's border agency Frontex, told CNN migrants typically travel in overcrowded vessels that lack the proper power to make the journey.

"Italy is currently facing the biggest migratory pressure of all European countries," she said.