7 migrants freeze to death on boat near Italian island

Rome: Seven migrants have frozen to death on board an overloaded wooden boat heading to the Italian island of Lampedusa from North Africa. The Italian coastguard said on Tuesday that 280 people on the 20-metre boat had been saved but that early indications were that the deaths were due to the cold. Italy’s ANSA news agency said the dead were from Bangladesh.
“Yet another tragedy, again we have to mourn innocent victims,” Lampedusa Mayor Toto Martello said, calling on Italy and the European Union to do more in the Mediterranean. (dpa)