More than 50 illegal immigrants were missing and seven were confirmed dead today after a small boat heading for Italy capsized in rough seas south of Sicily, authorities said.
"I'm here at the dock and at least seven bodies have been recovered," said Mr Salvatore Martello, mayor of Lampedusa, an island between Sicily and Tunisia. "Unfortunately, we think there are another 50 or 60 still missing," he said.
The small boat carrying around 70 illegal immigrants ran into bad weather in international waters some 60 miles south of Lampedusa late yesterday.
Eleven survivors were rescued, but search operations were hampered by rough seas. Navy ships, fishing boats and a helicopter were helping in the operation.
"Nine survivors have arrived in Lampedusa aboard a fishing boat, while the other two are on a military ship," the head of port operations in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, said.
Mr Vito Diodato, the captain of a fishing boat that was towing the wooden boat carrying the immigrants when it capsized, said he was saddened that he and his crew could not do more.
"As soon as we saw the small boat had capsized we stopped our motors and were able to save nine people," he told Italian television.
Reports from other fishing boats indicated around 70 people had been aboard the boat, but officials said they would not be able to confirm the figure until the rescued immigrants, some of whom were in a state of shock, were able to answer questions.
Mr Martello, the mayor, said it was not immediately clear where the boat had come from. Italy is one of the European Union's most enticing arrival points for streams of migrants, most of them from Albania, Turkey, North Africa and Asia.