Rescue boat with 22 migrant bodies aboard heading to Sicily

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Sub-saharan refugees and migrants on an overcrowded dinghy wait to be rescued by a team of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, 24 miles north of Sabratha, near Lybia, inside the so called Search and Rescue zone SAR, on Tuesday, July 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

ROME – The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders says a rescue vessel is bringing the bodies of 22 migrants to Sicily after they perished aboard a smugglers’ boat.

The bodies of 21 women and one man were found Wednesday in a pool of fuel at the bottom of the boat. The same rescue effort saved 209 people who were aboard two rubber dinghies. The organization said Thursday that the survivors and bodies will arrive in Trapani, likely on Friday.

The survivors are among 567 migrants saved on Wednesday in five separate rescue operations co-ordinated by the Italian coast guard.

Vessels from NGOs, several nations’ military fleets and passing cargo ships rescue migrants from unseaworthy boats launched from Libya’s shores. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have been rescued in the past few years.

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