75 migrants drown in Mediterranean

Seventy-five migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya last week as they attempted to reach Italy by boat. The UN said 15 survivors were rescued by fishermen and taken to the port of Zuwara in northwestern Libya. The Italian Coast Guard rescued more than 420 migrants, including dozens of children, from boats in difficulty on Saturday. The organisation said 70 people were taken safely by one of its boats to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily. More than 1,300 men, women and children have died so far in 2021 trying to cross the Central Mediterranean from Libya and Tunisia to Italy and Malta.