At Least 20 Dead of Hypothermia on Migrant Boat to Italy

At least 20 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean by the Italian coastguard overnight have died of hypothermia, medics told AFP Monday.

"There are many dead, certainly at least 20," said a doctor at an emergency treatment center on the island of Lampedusa, located south of Sicily and close to Libya, from where a group of over 100 migrants are thought to have set off in a bid to reach Italy.

"We have six young people in a critical hypothermic state in our center and we are trying to evacuate them to a better equipped hospital," the doctor told AFP by telephone.

Italian media put the death toll at 25-29 migrants.

More than 3,200 people have died in the last year attempting to reach Italy by boat from North Africa. More than 170,000 people have landed in Italy in the same period.

Most of the migrants are fleeing conflict and repression in the Middle East and east Africa and make their way overland to Libya to board boats operated by people smugglers.

Recently the smugglers have begun using bigger boats which can withstand winter storms and make longer journeys, notably from Turkey or Syria. But the people who died on Monday were traveling on a small converted fishing boat which would have offered little protection from the elements.