ABOARD THE ASTRAL, Italy: At least 32 Europe-bound migrants were found dead on a day of frantic rescues off Libya on Tuesday, an AFP photographer on board one of the rescue boats said.
The photographer said Wednesday that at least 29 people had died in a crush on board a overcrowded rubber dinghy and that three had died on a bigger wooden vessel that was carrying between 700 and 1,000 people.
The Italian coastguard which is coordinating rescue efforts in international waters north of Libya — said late Tuesday that 28 bodies had been recovered over the course of 33 operations on Tuesday, while 4,655 migrants had been rescued.
The photographer was travelling on the Astral, a ship chartered by Spanish NGO ProActiva Open Arms, which helps with migrant rescues at sea.
It was yet another day of drama at sea after more than 6,000 migrants, most of them Africans in packed rubber dinghies, were rescued off Libya on Monday.
Nine bodies were found in those operations.
