41 dead in migrant shipwreck off Lampedusa

Italian news agency ANSA and RAI television cited survivors who said the vessel had set sail from the Tunisian city of Sfax to Italy.

Four survivors were rescued by a Maltese cargo ship and taken to Lampedusa by the Italian coastguard.

The survivors, three men and a woman from Ivory Coast and Guinea, said that 45 people had been on board, including three children.

Only 15 people had been wearing safety vests, but they also drowned, the survivors said.

The vessel reportedly set off last Thursday and traveled for around six hours before it was capsized by a large wave.