Twenty-nine African migrants intercepted by Italian authorities while trying to reach Europe by boat in rough and icy conditions have died of hypothermia, most after being rescued.
Coastguard speedboats picked up 105 migrants in the Mediterranean, seven of whom were already dead, from a converted fishing boat battered by high winds and waves that hit eight metres, said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.
Due to bad weather, it was after midday on Monday when the rescue boats made it to the island of Lampedusa, located south of Sicily and close to Libya, the migrants' setting out point.
By then another 22 people had died, raising the death toll to 29, a medical source said.
Some of the migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were then airlifted to better equipped hospitals in Sicily.
More than 3,200 people have died in the past year trying to reach Italy by boat from North Africa. Over 170,000 people, a record number, landed there in 2014.
Most of the migrants are fleeing conflict and repression in the Middle East and east Africa and make their way overland to Libya to board boats operated by people smugglers.
Recently, smugglers have begun using bigger boats which can withstand winter storms and make longer journeys, notably from Turkey or Syria.
But the people who died on Monday were travelling on a small boat which would have offered little protection from the elements.
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