Twenty people are missing after falling into the sea from a boat. With 27 passengers, the six-meter boat had departed from Zuwara in Libya at 10:00 PM on Monday. Despite the rough seas, seven people managed to continue the journey on the damaged boat before being found by an Italian police patrol boat on Tuesday evening near the southern island of Lampedusa.
Authorities initially suspected the boat had capsized near Lampedusa, and a search-and-rescue operation was carried out overnight by the Italian police and coast guard in the southwestern waters of the island.
However, according to witness statements from six of the adult survivors reported by the Italian press, the boat began taking on water about five hours after departing Libya and started to tilt, causing panic and leading 20 passengers to fall into the sea.
The witnesses, including two people from Syria, two from Egypt, and two from Sudan, said that five women and three children were among those who fell into the sea. They stated that the sea was rough and the winds were strong. The seventh survivor was an eight-year-old boy from Syria. All survivors were taken to Porto Empedocle in Sicily.
According to the news agency Ansa, Italian authorities have suspended the search and reported the incident to their Libyan and Maltese counterparts. According to Alarm Phone, an organization that runs a hotline for people in distress at sea, three boats have capsized near Tunisia since Tuesday.
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