At Least 62 Dead As Migrant Boat Sinks

The Italian coast guard has pulled at least 62 bodies from the sea after a migrant boat caught fire off a Sicilian island.

The boat is reported to have sunk and left more than 100 people in the water off Lampedusa.
Mayor Giusi Nicolini said the dead included a young child and a pregnant woman.
Search and rescue operations were continuing, the mayor said.

Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the frequent destination for smugglers' boats.
It is the second deadly sinking this week.

Thirteen men drowned on Monday while trying to reach southern Sicily, just a few metres from the shore.