Five dead in new migrant disaster

(ANSA) - Rome, July 21 - The Italian authorities recovered five dead bodies bodies while rescuing 61 people from a sinking migrant boat in waters south of Sicily, ANSA sources said Monday. A search has started for missing people as the boat is thought to have been carrying around 80 people. The news comes a day after another migrant-boat disaster in waters between Libya and Malta in which 29 people, including a small child, died. The two incidents are only the latest in a long series of migrant disasters, as Italy struggles to cope this year with a huge increase in the already big flow of migrants to attempt the hazardous crossing from North Africa.
    Monday's rescue was conducted as part of the Mare Nostrum operation Italy launched after some 400 migrants died in two separate disasters in October.
    Sunday's deaths prompted Premier Matteo Renzi to reiterate his call for the European Union to do more to help Italy cope with the migrant crisis. "Europe must change its immigration policy," Renzi said in Angola on Sunday during a tour in Africa that also takes in Mozambique and the Republic of Congo.