iStock/Thinkstock(ROME) — Hundreds are feared dead after a pair of boats carrying people fleeing conflict and poverty capsized near Libya.
Libyan officials have been working around the clock trying to find survivors of two boats that sank off the coast of Libya Thursday night. One carrying 50 people capsized first, then later, another with 400 passengers.
Rescuers report the bodies retrieved so far are of people from Syria, Bangladesh and African countries. They were hoping to make it to the safety of Italy.
The capsizes occurred as coffins of 52 people arrived in Palermo, Italy. They died of asphyxiation in the hold of a migrant boat earlier this week.
So far, about 2,500 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea this year.
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