Ship capsized near Lampedusa, seven pregnant women died

10 people are still missing after a ship carrying migrants and refugees capsized 5 miles from the coast.

Officials said that at least seven people (including a pregnant woman) drowned after a ship carrying migrants and refugees capsized 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the island of Lampedusa, Italy.

The chief prosecutor of the team investigating the deaths, Luigi Patronaggio, said that about 10 people were still missing after the incident earlier on Wednesday.

Patronaggio, who is cooperating with the magistrate of Agrigento, Sicily, said that the refugees are believed to have begun their journey in Tunisia.

The mayor of Lampedusa, Toto Martello, said: “This recent tragedy in the Mediterranean is heartbreaking. I want to know what else can make Italy and Europe understand that we can’t go on like this anymore. .”

The Italian Coast Guard said in a statement that two Coast Guard ships responded to distress signals from the ship.

The statement said that when the rescuers approached, the passengers “suddenly changed” their position, which is likely to cause the ship to overturn.

Officials said the Coast Guard rescued about 46 people after the 8-meter ship capsized and brought them back to Lampedusa.

According to local media reports, more than 250 people boarded the island on four boats overnight.

In recent years, the number of arrivals in Italy has been declining, but the number will pick up again in 2021.

Since the beginning of this year, nearly 20,000 migrants and refugees have arrived, many of whom have fled conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, there were only more than 6,700 people in the same period last year.

Lampedusa is closer to Africa than to the Italian mainland and is one of the main destinations for Libyan traffickers.