Bangladeshis among the dead in boat capsize

A few Bangladeshi were among around 250 migrants who are feared drowned in a boat capsize in the Mediterranean Sea early Wednesday, said an official of International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“We have information that there were a few Bangladeshi among the migrants missing in the sea, around 40 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa,” Flavio Di Giacomo told The Daily Star yesterday evening from Rome.
No details about the missing Bangladeshis could be known yet, he said.
The vessel, which was loaded beyond capacity, had left the Libyan coast with about 300 migrants and asylum seekers from Somalia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan.
Forty-seven survivors were rescued at sea by the Italian Coast Guard and three by a local Italian fishing boat.
The survivors were transferred to Lampedusa. They told IOM officers, who were providing them with first aid and counselling, the boat sank due to the rough sea.
Some 40 women and five children were on board, IOM said in a statement.
Sultana Laila, director general (welfare) of Bangladesh foreign ministry, said they have information that there were some Bangladeshis among the migrants on the boat that sank in the rough sea.
“We have instructed our missions concerned to get details on missing Bangladeshis,” she told The Daily Star.
Since the beginning of February, Lampedusa has been overwhelmed by the arrival of more than 20,000 migrants from Tunisia and Libya.