Activists call slow response ‘deadly’ in capsizing off Libya:

An activist network that supports rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea is accusing Italy of failing to offer timely assistance to a smugglers’ boat in distress, resulting in a shipwreck that left at least 30 migrants missing and presumed dead. Seventeen survivors were rescued in an operation about 100 miles off the Libyan coast Sunday partially coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard. Alarm Phone, which notifies authorities of migrants in need of rescue, said it had notified Italian, Libyan and Maltese authorities of the boat’s location and emphasized that it was in danger due to high waves. It claimed that the migrants died due to “deadly non-assistance by the Italian authorities,” noting that the same boat was spotted nine hours later by another group that operates surveillance flights.