2 women drown while trying to reach Italy from North Africa in latest immigrant casualty




April 13, 2011 - 05:35

The Associated Press

ROME - Officials say two women drowned while attempting to reach Italy from North Africa after their boat with 250 people aboard went off course and ran aground just off an Italian island.

Vittorio Alessandro of the Coast Guard said the boat was likely carrying Sub-Saharan Africans as it ran aground Wednesday morning near the small island of Pantelleria.

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Migrants threw themselves in the water and were rescued by Italian patrol boats. But Alessandro said they also recovered the bodies of two women.

Photo caption:A view of the immigrant shelter in Lampedusa, the tiny Italian island close to North Africa where thousands of migrants have arrived in the past weeks, taken Monday, April 11, 2011. About 50 migrants managed to escape from the center Monday, while others were stopped by police patrolling the area. Some 26,000 illegal migrants have landed on Lampedusa since the beginning of the year, amid unrest across North Africa. Italy started repatriating Tunisians last week after striking a deal with Tunis. (AP Photos/Giorgos Moutafis)

Just last week, an immigrant boat believed to be carrying 300 migrants capsized and only about 50 people were rescued.

About 26,000 migrants, mostly Tunisians, have reached Italy since January, amid unrest across North Africa.
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