Dozens feared dead in migrant ship fire off Libya: charity

Roughly 60 migrants are presumed dead after their boat engine caught fire off the Libyan coast during an attempted Mediterranean crossing, a rescue charity said yesterday. Alarm Phone, a volunteer-run Mediterranean rescue hotline, said it had spoken to survivors of the March 18 accident in which the engine of a wooden boat carrying more than 100 people caught fire. Survivors reported that the boat's passengers included Sudanese, Senegalese, Syrians, Pakistanis, Moroccans and Egyptians. More than 1,200 migrants died last year trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).