The Italian Coast Guard and Italian finance police rescued 22 survivors and recovered the bodies of 13 people, all women, after a boat carrying about 50 migrants overturned Sunday night a few miles off the coast of Lampedusa.
According to an initial reconstruction of event, when rescue patrol boats arrived to rescue the migrants from the boat, all the migrants moved to one end of the boat, causing it to overturn.
Survivors said eight children are among those missing.
Agrigento prosecutor Salvatore Vella arrived on the island to lead a probe.
Prosecutors have already opened an investigation into shipwreck and multiple manslaughter, against person or persons unknown.
The NGO Open Arms said it saved 40 people from a different boat overnight, including a young boy and a newborn.
Lampedusa bears the brunt of migrant landings from north Africa, especially Libya.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
