ROME (AP) — About 20 migrants are believed to be missing after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean this week, the U.N. refugee agency and the Italian coast guard said Wednesday.
Seven Syrians were rescued and taken to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, Italian rescuers said. The coast guard said local officials had spotted the sinking boat around 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of the island.
The seven survivors were “in critical condition and many have lost their relatives,” Chiara Cardoletti, the UNHCR representative to Italy, said on X.
Survivors said 28 people had left Libya on Sept. 1, the coast guard said in a statement. Twenty-one of them “fell into the sea due to adverse weather conditions,” it added.