17 dead in migrant ship off Libya
Rescue crews discovered 16 bodies in a migrant boat off Libya, the first reported deaths since the European Union took over Mediterranean rescue operations, the Italian navy said Friday.
Another migrant died of a pulmonary embolism shortly after rescue crews reached the rubber boat Thursday, and yet another was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to be treated for hypothermia, the navy said in a statement.
The 16 dead were believed to have suffered dehydration and hypothermia, the navy said.
Seventy-four survivors were heading toward Port Empedocle aboard the Navy ship Etna, which picked them up at sea.
