DHAKA: Around 40 migrants died when an inflatable boat carrying more than 100 people sank off the coast of Italy.

Save the Children quoted survivors as saying on Tuesday, reports The Straits TImes.

‘They said there were 137 people aboard an inflatable boat that deflated or exploded - it wasn't clear - and that some of them fell overboard. Some said ‘very many’ died, others said 'around 40,’ Giovanna di Benedetto of Save the Children told the media.

The survivors were part of a group of close to 200 migrants who were on two separate boats and were rescued in recent days in waters off Sicily.

The survivors arrived on Tuesday in Catania on the east coast of Sicily, on the cargo ship ‘Zeran’, which also carried five bodies.

BDST: 1855 HRS, MAY 05, 2015
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