At least 41 people were killed in a migrants boat accident in the Mediterranean Sea last week, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday, citing survivor accounts.
Ansa said four people who survived the shipwreck told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children.
The boat had set sail from the Tunisian coastal town of Sfax last Thursday in the direction of Italy and capsized when a large wave struck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is located just under 190 kilometers from Sfax.
The survivors – three men and a woman from Ivory Coast and Guinea – said they were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred onto an Italian coast guard vessel.
Those rescued also reported that only 15 life jackets were available on board, while the coast guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was unclear, however, if the news given by Ansa was linked to the two shipwrecks that the coast guard had reported on Sunday, saying around 30 people were missing from them.
According to the Interior Ministry in Rome, more than 93,600 migrants have reached Italian shores so far this year, more than twice as many people as in the same period last year.
Most of those who are not intercepted off the North African coast are picked up by Italian patrol ships or charity rescue ships and brought to reception centers.
Separately, Tunisian authorities said on Monday that they had recovered 11 bodies from a shipwreck near Sfax on Sunday, with 44 migrants still missing from that sinking.
