Lampedusa, 1 Aug. (AKI) - Twenty-five bodies have been discovered by
Italy's coast guard aboard a boat transporting migrants to the tiny
Italian island of Lampedusa near Tunisia.
The body's, all belonging to males from sub-Saharan African, were found late Sunday when the coast guard inspected the vessel that set sail from Libya carrying 271 people, including 6 women and 21 children.
A doctor belonging to the team that examined the bodies said they most likely died from asphyxiation from gas coming from the boat's motor.
"They were dead for at least 48 hours," the doctor told Adnkronos in an interview. "The heat and the place they were packed together accelerated the bodies' decomposition," according to the doctor, Pietro Bartolo.
Since the unrest that has hit North Africa this year, over 40,000 migrants have reached Lampedusa, whose sole detention centre can hold a maximum of 850 people.
After a surge of Tunisian arrivals in early 2011 following the unrest in the North African country that toppled longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power, most migrants now reaching Lampedusa and nearby islands have embarked in Libya.
Most hail from sub-Saharan Africa and are more likely to gain political asylum than Tunisians, who are considered economic migrants.
The body's, all belonging to males from sub-Saharan African, were found late Sunday when the coast guard inspected the vessel that set sail from Libya carrying 271 people, including 6 women and 21 children.
A doctor belonging to the team that examined the bodies said they most likely died from asphyxiation from gas coming from the boat's motor.
"They were dead for at least 48 hours," the doctor told Adnkronos in an interview. "The heat and the place they were packed together accelerated the bodies' decomposition," according to the doctor, Pietro Bartolo.
Since the unrest that has hit North Africa this year, over 40,000 migrants have reached Lampedusa, whose sole detention centre can hold a maximum of 850 people.
After a surge of Tunisian arrivals in early 2011 following the unrest in the North African country that toppled longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power, most migrants now reaching Lampedusa and nearby islands have embarked in Libya.
Most hail from sub-Saharan Africa and are more likely to gain political asylum than Tunisians, who are considered economic migrants.