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Dozens dead in hold of migrant boat off Libya

26 August 2015, 5:13 pm

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The bodies of at least 40 people are found in the hold of a migrant boat off the coast of Libya, the Swedish coastguard says.

The discovery was made after Swedish ship the Poseidon was sent to the aid of a stricken vessel by the Italian coastguard.

Swedish coastguard spokesman Mattias Lindholm tells AFP the Poseidon had been able to save 439 people on the wooden boat.

“Unfortunately there were around 40 people dead in the hold,” he says. “The bodies are currently being transferred to the Poseidon.”

The Swedish ship was in the area as part of the EU border agency Frontex’s search and rescue mission known as Triton.

Just before the discovery of the bodies, the Poseidon had picked up 130 migrants from a rubber dinghy in the same area.

— AFP

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