October 3rd, 2013
01:31 PM ET

Italy shipwreck: Scores dead

A boat carrying as many as 500 people capsized and caught fire off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the nation's coast guard told CNN on Thursday.

The official death toll stood at 93 - down one from earlier reports - but that did not include an estimated 20 newly discovered bodies that remain in the water, the coast guard said.

At least 151 people had been rescued in the ongoing operation, the coast guard said.

Lampedusa, not far from Sicily and the closest Italian island to Africa, has become a destination for tens of thousands of refugees seeking to enter European Union countries - and such deadly shipwrecks are all too common.

FULL STORY

Filed under: Italy
soundoff (6 Responses)
  1. banasy©

    Horrible tragedy.

    October 3, 2013 at 2:42 pm | Report abuse |
  2. saywhat

    Hey@Philip.Where have you been? Some sort of sabbatical?
    Welcome back.

    October 3, 2013 at 4:10 pm | Report abuse |
  3. saywhat

    Indeed@banasy.
    poor folks seeking better life, happens too often.

    October 3, 2013 at 4:11 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Sofa King

    Does Roem imagine he can fool people with a grammatically and incorrectly punctuated post? Does Roem not know that other people have good memories also, and know what how inept he is at the English language?

    October 3, 2013 at 4:41 pm | Report abuse |
  5. chrissy

    @ saywhat, that isn't Philip. He would not waste his time just posting a one liner jab at banasy.

    October 3, 2013 at 7:15 pm | Report abuse |
  6. campaniellopro

    Tradegy

    October 17, 2013 at 4:50 pm | Report abuse |
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