More than a dozen people have died after a crowded boat carrying migrants capsized in the Mediterranean late on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENTMore than a dozen migrants have died after the boat they were travelling in capsized during poor weather in the Mediterranean.
The boat, believed to be carrying more than 50 migrants, sank just as a rescue vessel intercepted it off the coast of Lampedusa late on Sunday night.
Rescuers were able to save 22 people - 13 men and nine women - from the sinking wreck, but many more were unaccounted for.
At least 13 bodies have since been recovered from the water.
Italian magistrate Salvatore Vella said the vessel was "in no condition" to make the Mediterranean crossing from Libya.
He added: "It is strange they put to sea in such bad weather."
Vella said the boat was believed to have made a stop in Tunisia, before making its way toward Europe.
Most of those aboard were believed to have come from Tunisia or sub-Saharan Africa, and none were found to have life jackets.