At least two Africans died in the sinking of a migrant boat trying the sea crossing to Italy some 90 km off the Libyan coast, Italian media said on Monday.
According to ANSA news agency, the 268 survivors of the umpteenth tragedy were being transported to the southern island of Sicily by the Italian navy along with the two recovered corpses.
The Italian government’s Mare Nostrum, or Our Sea, search-and-rescue patrol mission at the weekend has pulled to safety more than 2,500 asylum seekers, ANSA said.
Italy’s southern coasts are used as a point of entry into Europe for tens of thousands of African refugees, who are often the victims of human trafficking.
Since the beginning of 2014, the illegal influx has caused at least 500 deaths at sea, according to estimates of UN refugee agency UNHCR.
On Sunday, Italian police detained two suspected traffickers, a Tunisian and a Moroccan aged 18 and 26, after uncovering a self-made video showing the pair driving a packed boat.