DHAKA: Italy is holding a day of national mourning, after a boat carrying about 500 African migrants sank off the island of Lampedusa.

At least 103 bodies were recovered and scores more are trapped in the vessel, which sank less than 1 km (half-a-mile) offshore.

More than 150 people were rescued, but another 200 of those on board the 20m (66-ft) boat are unaccounted for.

Most of the migrants were from Eritrea and Somalia, said the UN.

The skipper of the boat, a 35-year-old Tunisian, was arrested, announced Italy`s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano when he visited the island later in the day.

"He had been deported from Italy in April," Mr Alfano said.

"This is not an Italian tragedy, this is a European tragedy," he continued. "Lampedusa has to be considered the frontier of Europe, not the frontier of Italy."

A minute of silence will be observed in all Italian schools on Friday in memory of the victims.

At this time of year, when the Mediterranean tends to be calmer, boats carrying migrants from Africa and the Middle East land on Italy`s southern shores almost every day, the BBC`s Alan Johnston reports from Rome.

But the vessels are usually overcrowded and often unseaworthy.

Mr Alfano said the ship had sailed from Misrata in Libya and began taking on water when its motor stopped working as it neared Lampedusa early on Thursday morning.

It is thought that some of those on board set fire to a piece of material to try to attract the attention of passing ships, only to have the fire spread to the rest of the boat.

"Once the fire started, there was concern about the boat sinking and everyone moved to one side, causing the boat to go down," Mr Alfano said.

He said at least three children and two pregnant women were among the dead.

Lampedusa mayor Giusi Nicolini: "These bodies are all speaking. We need to stop this"

It is one of the worst such disasters to occur off the Italian coast in recent years; Prime Minister Enrico Letta tweeted that it was "an immense tragedy".

In a separate incident on Thursday, local media reported that around 200 migrants were escorted to the port of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, when their vessel encountered difficulties five miles off the coast.

Earlier this week, 13 migrants drowned while trying to reach Sicily

Source: BBC
BDST: 0954 HRS, OCT 04, 2013
MR/RS/GCP