ROME, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Italian authorities said a boat carrying as many as 250 migrants capsized off Sicily Friday, killing some 50 people, including 10 children.
The sinking occurred in international waters in the Channel of Sicily, some 60 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa near Malta, Italy's ANSA news agency reported. About 150 survivors were rescued by a Maltese ship and 50 others were picked up by an Italian navy vessel.
On Oct. 3, as many as 363 migrants, many from Somalia and Eritrea, were killed when an overloaded boat carrying migrants caught fire and sank. Authorities estimate as many as 250 people were aboard the boat that sank Friday, ANSA said.
Lampedusa has become a destination for tens of thousands of migrants fleeing Africa for Europe.
Italian Premier Enrico Letta said the disasters are "dramatic confirmation of the emergency situation" facing Italy regarding migrants making the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean in overcrowded and often unsafe vessels.
