Six migrants die and 250 rescued as boats hit sandbank off resort of Catania, Sicily
The dead were among about 100 migrants in an 18-metre wooden fishing boat that ran aground off Catania, Sicily, said Italian coastguard Captain Roberto D'Arrigo.
Six migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from north Africa drowned when their boat got stuck off a Sicilian beach resort.
Another 250 migrants who were attempting the crossing in flimsy vessels were rescued.
The dead were among about 100 migrants in an 18-metre wooden fishing boat that ran aground off Catania, Sicily, said Italian coastguard Captain Roberto D'Arrigo.
The bodies of two victims were found washed up on a beach, while the other four bodies were pulled out of the water.
"Either they didn't know how to swim or they were exhausted from the voyage," D'Arrigo said.
The fishing boat snagged on a sandbank about 20 metres from the shore, he said.
"Many others jumped into the sea and made it ashore," D'Arrigo said. Other survivors stayed aboard the boat and waited for the coastguard.
Early risers who went to the beach in Italy were stunned by the sight of the bodies, which were left on the sand by the rescuers. Other witnesses said they saw migrants running from the shore to a nearby road.
"I saw a group of them trying to make it to the road from the beach and called the authorities," said Dario Monteforte, the owner of a bathing establishment.
D'Arrigo said some migrants who swam ashore might have escaped before rescuers arrived. Some survivors told authorities they were Egyptian or Syrian.
It is rare for smugglers' often unseaworthy vessels filled with migrants to aim for Italian shores near cities.
D'Arrigo said the boat apparently made a navigational error while trying to reach secluded shores undetected.
Luxury cruise liners frequently anchor off shore from Catania to admire Mount Etna, an active volcano that rises behind the city.
Another tragedy occurred off Spain. Officials said coastguard vessels and emergency services rescued 70 migrants who were trying to reach the Spanish coastline by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar aboard 10 inflatable dinghies in dangerously windy conditions.
Also on Saturday, about 50 kilometres south of Catania, Italian rescuers saved 83 migrants after their boat had problems off the coast near Syracuse. About 40 of those aboard were women or children.
Each year, thousands from the Horn of Africa or elsewhere on the continent, or from the Middle East, attempt the perilous journey in hope of finding jobs or relatives in Europe.
Smugglers put them in often rickety fishing boats or motorised rubber dinghies whose engines sometimes fail.
Countless migrants drown or die of dehydration and their bodies are tossed overboard, according to survivors' accounts.
