The Italian Coast Guard announced that 17 migrants were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday, while 30 others are still missing, after the boat, they sailed on from Libya capsized in bad weather.
The tragedy comes after a boat sank on February 26 near the Calabria region in southern Italy, an accident that claimed the lives of at least 79 people.
The charity Alert Phone organization, which receives calls from migrant boats in difficulty, assumed the 30 missings were dead and blamed Italy for reluctance to send the coastguard, despite being told several times on Saturday that the boat was in trouble.
And the organization said in a statement on Sunday evening: "It is clear that the Italian authorities were trying to evade the transfer of people to the country, and were delaying in intervening until the so-called Libyan Coast Guard arrives and forcibly returns people to Libya."
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