Reports: 8 migrants’ bodies recovered by Italian coast guard

MILAN (AP) — Italian news agency ANSA has reported that the bodies of eight migrants have been recovered by the coast guard during an operation overnight that also rescued 42 survivors in the central Mediterranean off the island of Lampedusa. The coast guard in Rome and in Lampedusa on Friday declined to immediately confirm details of the rescue including the deaths. ANSA reported that all on board were soaking wet, cold and dehydrated. The deceased were believed to have perished from the cold. ANSA reported that survivors said they had departed the Tunisian port of Sfax before dawn on Saturday.