Urgent search for two migrant boats carrying 200 missing in Mediterranean
Migrant boats, not pictured, have been reported missing
PA
Efforts are under way to locate 2 migrant boats, with more than 200 people on board, which left Libya to cross the Mediterranean a day ago and haven't been seen since.
GB News has been told that the boats left Western Libya on Tuesday heading towards Southern Italy.
One NGO network has contacted Italian rescue services as the boats have not been heard from in 24 hours.
One boat is reported to be carrying 145 people.
Red Cross officials on Lampedusa had been racing to clear their migrant camp on the island to make room for an expected surge in boat arrivals later in the week
GB News
The NGO claims to have heard from passengers by telephone who reported suffering engine problems.
The charity lost contact with those passengers a short time later. Some relatives of those aboard another boat have reported their loved ones as missing.
That small vessel was reported to be carrying 90 people when it left the North African coast.
The NGO said weather conditions in the area were deteriorating, with strong winds blowing.
Migrants board boat in Lampedusa last night
GB News
The charity also contacted the Italian Coastguard to alert them to this missing vessel.
Meanwhile, the last of 11,000 migrants who arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, have now left and been taken to the Italian mainland.
Migrants disembark from bus last night as Lampedusa prepares to repatriate them
GB News
Red Cross officials on Lampedusa had been racing to clear their migrant camp on the island to make room for an expected surge in boat arrivals later in the week.
Over the last few days, GB News has witnessed police reinforcements and additional Red Cross volunteers arriving on Lampedusa in preparation for any new arrivals.
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