WORRYING

500 Migrants Missing in Mediterranean Sea After Ship Loses Contact

The search continues for the boat after engine failure in central Mediterranean.

Refugee aid charities are fearful of another disaster in the Mediterranean Sea after a boat carrying 500 migrants—including a number of pregnant women—went missing. Alarm Phone, a group that contacts migrant vessels in distress, said it lost contact with the boat on Wednesday after it reported losing its engine. At the time, it was about 200 miles north of the Libyan port of Benghazi and still 250 miles short of Malta or the Italian island of Sicily. An Italian NGO said its boat and another had been searching for the vessel but had found no sign of it, nor of any shipwreck. Reuters said the Italian coast guard had reported the rescue on Thursday of 1,098 migrants in two separate operations, but they were not connected to the missing boat.