A seven meter long boat with 38 people on board has been rescued from distress by the Italian coast guard off the island of Lampedusa. The body of a man from Nigeria was also on board, Italian authorities reported today. Among those rescued were eleven women and eight minors originally from Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Cameroon and Nigeria.
The wife and three minor children of the deceased Nigerian were also on board the boat. It is still unclear why the man died. The people had left Sfax in Tunisia.
According to the aid organization Alarm Phone, a fishing boat with 400 people on board was floating in the central Mediterranean. The boat departed from Tobruk in Libya. “We have alerted the authorities, but no rescue operation has been confirmed yet,” reported Alarm Phone.