00:00 41 migrants have died in a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
00:07 A group of four people who survived the disaster told rescuers that they were on a boat that
00:12 had set off from Sfax, Indonesia and sank on its way to Italy.
00:16 As per reports, the four survivors, originally from the Ivory Coast and Guinea, reached Lampedusa
00:22 on Wednesday.
00:23 The survivors constituted of three men and a woman.
00:26 They told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children.
00:32 They said that the boat, which was about 7-metre long, left Sfax on Thursday last week but
00:37 sank within hours after being hit by a big wave.
00:40 Only 15 people are understood to have been wearing life vests.
00:44 They added that they were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred to an Italian Coast
00:49 Guard vessel.
00:50 The Italian Coast Guard reported two shipwrecks in the area on Sunday but it is not clear
00:54 whether this vessel is one of those.
00:56 Tunisian authorities say that Sfax, which is a port city about 130 kilometres from Lampedusa,
01:02 is a popular gateway for migrants seeking safety and a better life in Europe.
01:07 More than 1,800 people have lost their lives so far this year in the crossing from North
01:11 Africa to Europe.
01:12 In recent days, Italian patrol boats and charity groups have rescued another 2,000 people who
01:17 arrived on Lampedusa.
01:19 Tunisia has seen a wave of racism against black Africans in recent months and attempts
01:23 to leave the country by boat have increased.
01:26 The United Nations has registered more than 17,000 deaths and disappearances in the central
01:30 Mediterranean since 2014, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world.
01:36 Italy's far-right government has adopted a policy that forces rescue ships to dock at
01:40 ports further away rather than letting them disembark rescued migrants in Lampedusa or
01:45 Sicily.
01:46 It says that the aim is to spread arrivals across the country but NGOs say that the policy
01:50 reduces the amount of time they can patrol areas where shipwrecks are more common.
01:54 "
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