Dozens of migrants lost their lives today in the third deadly shipwreck in the Mediterranean in as many days, Italian authorities have reported to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
More than 500 people are believed to have been rescued today after the ship sank off the Libyan coast, an IOM spokesman told ABC News, saying overcrowding may have caused the sinking.
“It was a big boat with 500-something people,” IOM spokesman Joel Millman said. “Maybe they put too many people in there. We will know why it sank after we talk to survivors.”
Italian authorities told the intergovernmental organization that 30 people died, Millman added. Most of the migrants on the boat, which was traveling from Libya to Europe, are believed to be Moroccan, he said.
Boat Carrying Hundreds of Migrants Capsizes Near Libya, Killing at Least FiveAnother boat carrying hundreds sank in the Mediterranean Sea Wednesday (shown in the video above), killing at least five, while around 562 people were saved.
In an interview with the BBC, the Italian captain, Francesco Iavazzo, said, "...I tried to keep the people calm, shouting to them: Please sit down, do not stand, do not move because the boat isn't stable. But fear is fear so the people were not listening basically."
At least 9,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean since 2013, according to the IOM.