ROME — A fishing boat crowded with migrants overturned Wednesday in the Mediterranean off Libya as rescuers approached, and the Italian coast guard and Irish navy said at least 367 people were saved, although 25 bodies also were found in the latest human smuggling tragedy.
Coast guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said the rescue operation, involving seven ships, was still underway several hours after the capsizing.
Survivors indicated that 400 to 600 people were aboard the smugglers’ boat, he added.
The Irish naval vessel Le Niamh was one of the ships tasked by the coast guard to speed to the rescue of the boat shortly before noon, Irish Capt. Donal Gallagher told The Associated Press by phone.
The Le Niamh arrived near the fishing boat, Marini said, and “at the sight of it, the migrants shifted” to one side and their boat capsized.
