17 migrants dead, 217 rescued off Libyan coast by Italian Navy

The Italian Navy has found 17 dead migrants onboard a boat off the Libyan coast and rescued another 217 people from the same wreckage, a media report said.

The Italian Navy reached the boat after an alert was launched by the migrants with a satellite phone, Xinhua reported, citing ANSA news agency, on Friday

The boat had not capsized and the migrants died for unknown reasons, the report said, adding that the survivors would be questioned by Italian police soon to try to ascertain the causes of the accident.

Friday's deaths are the latest in a series of migrant tragedies that according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees has led to around 3,500 Africans losing their lives in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy last year.

Italy is considered to be the gateway into Europe.

Sources inside the Italian interior ministry recently said that, till the beginning of May 15, some 33,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, that is 15 percent more than last year's arrivals during the corresponding timeframe.

This means that as many as 200,000 migrants could land in Italy by the end of 2015, well above last year's 170,000, further aggravating the emergency at the country's overcrowded refugee centres.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has repeatedly called for focused actions to be carried out at the European level in Libya, within the framework of international legality to contain the issue of illegal immigration.