Italy's coast guard Friday found eight bodies, including the body of a pregnant woman, on a migrant vessel that was attempting to make the journey across the Mediterranean from Tunisia to Italy.
The bodies were unloaded on Italy's Lampedusa island, the first stop for many migrants on the journey across the sea.
Dozens more Africans were aboard the vessel, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.
Survivors of the journey told officials that three other people had died at sea, ANSA reported. They said a women died and fell into the water with her 4-month-old son, who drowned. In addition, survivors said a man passed out and fell into the water.
The Guardian reports that authorities on Malta had been alerted to the migrants' situation at sea, but no rescue was dispatched. Prosecutors in Sicily have launched an investigation, the newspaper said.
