NNA - The Italian Coast Guard announced that it had found the bodies of nine migrants, including a child, who died when a boat sank. Twenty-two of its passengers were rescued, while searches continue for others, according to Agence France-Presse.

The boat sank in Maltese waters due to bad weather conditions and waves two and a half meters high, about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) southeast of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The Italian Coast Guard, to which the Maltese authorities sought help, despite the difficult circumstances, was able to locate the boat and “rescued 22 people and transported the bodies of nine others, including a child,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

A plane continues its search operations at the place where the boat sank, the same source added, without specifying the number of missing people.
                     

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