17 Bangladeshis rescued after shipwreck in the Mediterranean

Staff Reporter :
17 migrants rescued after the latest deadly shipwreck in the Mediterranean were brought ashore by the Italian authorities on Monday as Italy faced criticism for its response to the crisis.
Those rescued were taken to the Sicilian town of Pozzallo, Italian newswire ANSA reported, and said they were all originally from Bangladesh.
Thirty people were feared drowned after the boat they were travelling in from Libya capsized in bad weather on Sunday, Italy’s coastguard said.
The tragedy follows a February 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 people died.Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, blamed Italy for not sending its coastguard earlier despite being repeatedly alerted on Saturday that the boat was in trouble.
“Clearly, the Italian authorities were trying to avoid that the people would be brought to Italy, delaying intervention so that the so-called Libyan coastguard would arrive and forcibly return people to Libya,” it said in a statement late on Sunday.
Italy’s coastguard said, the capsizing occurred outside the Italian Search and Rescue area (SAR), and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, Rome was doing all it could to avoid shipwrecks.