17 migrants dead, 217 rescued off Libyan coast by Italian Navy

Rome, May 30: The Italian Navy has found 17 dead migrants onboard a boat off the Libyan coast and rescued another 217 people from the same wreckage, a media report said. The Italian Navy reached the boat after an alert was launched by the migrants with a satellite phone, Xinhua reported, citing ANSA news agency, on Friday The boat had not capsized and the migrants died for unknown reasons, the report said, adding that the survivors would be questioned by Italian police soon to try to ascertain the causes of the accident. Friday's deaths are the latest in a series of migrant tragedies that according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees has led to around 3,500 Africans losing their lives in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy last year.