64 people missing and many rescued from 2 shipwrecks off Italy. At least 11 have died

ROME (AP) — Sixty-four people were missing in the Mediterranean Sea and several were rescued after their ship wrecked off Italy's southern coast Monday, United Nations' agencies said in a statement.

In a separate shipwreck, rescue workers evacuated dozens of suspected migrants but found 10 bodies trapped below the deck of a wooden boat off Italy’s tiny Lampedusa island, the German aid group Resqship wrote on Monday on the X social media platform.

The boat that wrecked about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off Calabria had set off from Turkey eight days earlier, but caught fire and overturned, the U.N. agencies said, citing survivors.

The search-and-rescue operation started following a mayday call by a French boat, the Italian coast guard said in a statement. The boat was sailing in a border area where Greece and Italy carry out search-and-rescue operations. The survivors and people still missing at sea came from Iran, Syria and Iraq, the U.N. agencies said.

The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center immediately diverted two merchant vessels sailing nearby to the scene of the rescue. Assets from the European border and coast guard agency Frontex also helped.

The survivors were brought to the Calabrian port of Roccella Jonica, where they were disembarked and entrusted to the care of medical personnel. One of the 11 rescued migrants died soon after, the coast guard said.

In the second shipwreck, the crew aboard Resqship’s boat, the Nadir, found 61 people on the wooden boat, which was full of water.

"Our crew was able to evacuate 51 people, two of whom were unconscious,” it added. “The 10 dead were in the flooded lower deck of the boat.”

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Some of the 11 migrants saved from the sea after their sailboat sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Greece early Monday, June 17, 2024, are assisted in Roccella Ionica, southern Italy where they were brought by the Italian Coast Guard. (AP Photo/Valeria Ferraro)

This picture taken early Monday, June 17, 2024 by the Italian Coast Guard shows a sail boat used by migrants half sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Greece early Monday, June 17, 2024. 12 survivors were brought to the Italian port-city of Roccella Ionica but one died on arrival, while searches for some 60 more occupants are being carried out. (Italian Coast Guard via AP, Ho)

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