Ekip
September 08, 2015•Update: September 08, 2015
By John Phillips
ROME
Some 20 migrants fell into the sea and drowned in the Channel of Sicily Monday before the other passengers on the overcrowded boat they were in was rescued by Italian Financial Guard vessels, survivors told rescue workers after landing on the remote Italian island of Lampedusa, according to local media.
A woman said she lost two sons and a brother and a youngster from Gambia said he saw two of his friends disappear under the waves.
On Sunday, another 329 migrants arrived in the port of Pozzallo on board the Irish Navy vessel L..E. Niamh after also being rescued in the Channel of Sicily while crowded on a boat in difficulty. Most of the 329 were men while only 10 were women, one of whom was pregnant and admitted to a Sicilian hospital for tests.
Some 362 more migrants were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard Saturday while trying to reach Italy from North Africa. Coast guard vessels from Siracusa and Pozzallo raced to the scene and 220 of the 362 were transferred aboard a Brazilian Navy vessel taking part in rescue operations.
In the port of Catania, police and finance guards arrested five Egyptians -- believed to have been members of a people smugglers’ gang -- who were in charge of the vessel from which the 362 migrants were rescued Saturday.
The five were identified as Ibrahim Ali Mahmoud, 37, Shafai Nim, 22, Mohammad Naim, 24, Mohammad Ahmed al Said, 35, and El Said Mohamed, 35.
An increasing number of boats carrying migrants from North Africa to Italy have been leaving Egypt in recent weeks, evidently because the number of boats available in war-torn Libya has been exhausted by the lucrative smuggling rackets, maritime sources say.
