04/10/2013 10:32
Lampedusa sinking: Italy mourns up to 300 migrant dead
Italy is holding a day of national mourning, after a boat carrying about 500 African migrants sank off the island of Lampedusa, the BBC reported.
At least 103 bodies were recovered and scores more are trapped in the vessel, which sank less than 1 km (half-a-mile) offshore.
More than 150 people were rescued, but another 200 of those on board the 20m (66-ft) boat are unaccounted for.
Most of the migrants were from Eritrea and Somalia, said the UN.
The skipper of the boat, a 35-year-old Tunisian, was arrested, announced Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano when he visited the island later in the day.
"He had been deported from Italy in April," Mr Alfano said.
"This is not an Italian tragedy, this is a European tragedy," he continued. "Lampedusa has to be considered the frontier of Europe, not the frontier of Italy."
A minute of silence will be observed in all Italian schools on Friday in memory of the victims.