After their boat stopped moving more than an hour ago, Syrian immigrants, Lebanese, and Egyptians pleaded with the territorial waters off the Italian shores to come to their aid.
The 44 immigrants, the majority of them are Syrians, are reportedly stranded off the Italian coasts, according to Al-Arabiya.net.
After water leaked into the ship carrying them, the immigrants pleaded with the Italian authorities to save them from drowning. Among the immigrants are children and women.
Immigrants are transported by sinking boats in the later. According to a recent report by the Greek coast guard, at least 23 people died when two boats carrying migrants sank in Greece last week.
According to a Greek Coast Guard spokesman who spoke to Agence France Presse, at least five bodies were found on the island of Keithira, south of the Billoponiz, where a sailboat carrying 95 migrants capsized at night.
According to the same source, another event occurred on Thursday morning and at least 18 individuals, mostly women, were killed off an island in the eastern Mediterranean.
In Kethara, 80 people were rescued from drowning while 28 people were found off Lesbus.
These instances occurred just a few days after Italy marked the tenth anniversary of one of the bloodiest maritime tragedies in recent memory, when a migrant ship collapsed off the coast of Lampedusa, Sicily, on October 3, 2013, resulting in the deaths of 368 people.
Immigrants trapped off Italian beaches call for help
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