ROME, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Rescued migrants said upon reaching Italy that 60 fellow passengers went missing when their vessel capsized in the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
"80 survivors brought to (Italy's) Brindisi reported to IOM staff that their dinghy with about 140 people on board capsized: about 60 migrants went missing," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo tweeted Friday.
The shipwreck took place sometime during the past week, Di Giacomo said in a separate tweet.
The port city of Brindisi is located in the heel of Italy's boot.
Local La Repubblica newspaper reported that a British Navy vessel brought 402 migrants to Brindisi earlier in the day.
The rescued came from countries in sub-Saharan Africa and were plucked from unseaworthy vessels in the Strait of Sicily that lies between Italy and Africa.
Founded in Geneva in 1951, the IOM is an intergovernmental organization with 166 member states. It became a United Nations-affiliated agency in 2016. Its Coordination Office for the Mediterranean is headquartered in Rome.
