Ship with migrants sinks near Italy

Rome, May 12 (IANS) A ship packed with migrants sank 100 miles off the coast of southern Italy, leading to the death of several people on board, the Italian coast guard said Monday.

The mishap follows a similar sinking of a ship off the coast of Libya Sunday, in which roughly 40 Italy-bound migrants died, ANSA reported.

The coast guard said some 200 people were rescued from Monday's ship disaster.

In a programme called Mare Nostrum, Italy has ramped up search-and-rescue missions around its maritime boundaries since last October when two shipwrecks off the coast of Sicily killed roughly 400 migrants.