Ten immigrants die in Sicily sinking

At least 10 people died and as many as 40 were feared missing when a small boat packed with illegal immigrants sank off Sicily yesterday, prompting Italy to call for greater co-operation to fight human trafficking.

"What happened today is not only a tragedy but nothing less than a crime," Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said in a statement. "And if we don't manage to punish crimes they repeat themselves and tragedies repeat themselves too."

The boat, a 10-metre-long wooden vessel believed to have left from Libya, sank at about 3.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) around 10 miles (16 km) off the southern island of Lampedusa. Coastguard officials said 70 people had been rescued and 10 bodies, including four women, had been recovered.

Survivors reported there had been up to 120 immigrants on board. Such estimates could be inexact so it was difficult to estimate how many were missing, officials said.

Lampedusa, between Sicily and Libya, has become a gateway for illegal immigrants and refugees who leave North Africa in an attempt to enter the European Union.

Police later identified five men among the survivors who they suspected were part of a gang that organised the voyage. The men were believed to be Libyan, police said. One navy ship had been following the immigrant boat and was able to start the rescue quickly, hence the high number of survivors, the coastguard said.

Survivors said the boat turned over when the immigrants saw the Navy vessel and many of them moved abruptly to one side. Amato called for more co-operation to "dismantle once and for all the criminal organisations that daily put the lives of so many as risk in a Mediterranean crossing".

Immigrants often pay unscrupulous gangs in Africa thousands of dollars for their journey. Many of them are repatriated back to Africa if they are caught unless they can prove that they are political refugees. The growing number of illegal migrants seeking to escape poverty has become one of Europe's biggest political issues. Nearly 10,000 have reached Lampedusa so far this year. Last year nearly 23,000 illegal immigrants reached Italy, some 8,000 more than in 2004.