Migrant boats capsized off the Italian coast, killing at least 27

At least 27 migrants died after two boats capsized as they were trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.

About 60 survivors were saved from the seas off the island of Lampedusa, while the search for others continues.

More than 700 people died while trying to cross the central Mediterranean this year, according to the UN (UNHCR) refugee agency.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered his “greatest condolences” to the victims. An UNHCR spokesperson said there was a “deep anxiety” felt by the incident.

More than 90 people were on the two boats before capsizing, Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the International UN Migration Organization (IOM).

A Somali woman aboard one of the ships gave an account heartbreaking on a daily basis based in Rome La Repubblica to lose her daughter and her husband for a year.

“All hell has come off,” she said. “I never saw them again, my little girl slipped, I lost them both.”

This has capsized the two ships has not yet been confirmed.

However, the survivors suggested to the Repubblica that when the first boat capsized, its occupants were forced to get into the second ship, which also capsized.

“We had left on two boats, but one capsized, so we all climbed aboard one of them. But the other also started to take water,” said one to the other.

Italian Prime Minister Meloni said in a statement: “When a tragedy as today occurs, with the death of dozens of people in the waters of the Mediterranean, a strong feeling of consternation and compassion occurs in each of us.

“And we find ourselves considering the inhuman cynicism with which human traffickers organize these sinister trips.”

The island of Lampedusa is home to a migrant reception center which is often overcrowded with difficult living conditions. It welcomes tens of thousands of migrants who have survived the often dangerous path through the Mediterranean to Europe each year.

Those who travel often travel to poorly maintained and overcrowded ships.

At least 25,000 people have disappeared or have been killed while trying to cross the central Mediterranean since 2014, according to the IOM.