Italy finds 30 dead on smugglers' boat

The Associated Press

ROME -- The bodies of 30 people were found in the hold of a smugglers' boat heading to Italy, the latest deaths in a surge of people fleeing to Europe, the Italian navy said Monday.

The boat was carrying nearly 600 people, it said. The 566 survivors were rescued by the navy frigate Grecale and were headed to Pozzallo on the southern tip of Sicily.

The navy said it rescued more than 5,000 people over the weekend, adding to the nearly 60,000 who have made their way to Italy since the beginning of the year, compared with 42,000 in all of 2013.

Most are from Africa or the Middle East and pay hundreds or thousands of dollars each to smugglers in Libya, who pack them into unsafe fishing vessels.

Officials say the numbers have swelled this year because of increasing instability in Libya.

The bodies were discovered in the bow of the boat during the rescue, according to a navy statement. The victims were believed to have suffocated or drowned.

In a separate sea rescue operation, navy officials isolated a rescued person suffering from an infectious disease but did not identify the ailment.

Italy beefed up its sea rescues in October after a boat capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa, killing more than 360 people.

Obits on 07/01/2014

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