Boat with 512 migrants, seven corpses aboard reaches Sicily

Palermo: An Italian coastguard vessel docked in Sicily's western port city of Trapani on Monday with 512 migrants and the bodies of a further seven on board.

The migrants and the corpses were picked up in the Mediterranean at the weekend, the coastguard said. 

A further 14 migrants were rescued from a small fishing boat off Sardinia on Monday after setting sail from Algeria overnight, they said. 

The migrants were due to receive medical treatment at a migrant reception centre in Assemini, according to the coastguard. 

More than 45,000 people have reached Italy by boat from North Africa this year, a more than 40 percent increase on the same period of 2016, says the International Organisation for Migration, while over 1,200 migrants have died attempting the perilous sea crossing, according to IOM 

Most of the migrants arriving in Italy are now from sub-Saharan Africa or from Bangladesh.