At least 13 people on a migrant boat arriving in Sicily drowned close to the coast near the eastern city of Ragusa, apparently after trying to disembark from their stranded vessel, Italian authorities said today.

Officials said the boat was carrying around 250 people but there was no immediate word on where they came from.

Thousands of migrants have arrived in packed boats in southern Italy during the summer sailing season this year with refugees from the civil war in Syria adding to the near daily arrivals of boats from North Africa.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.