ROME, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from an Italy-bound migrant shipwreck off the Libyan port of Zuara has risen to 31 and could go higher, Italian Coast Guard sources said Wednesday.
Thirty of the 31 bodies have been transferred to the rescue ship Fenix and the remaining one onto the ship Fiorillo, as search continued in the area, according to Ansa news agency.
The Coast Guard is coordinating 14 ships across the central Mediterranean where good weather has helped make migrant traffic "intense", Ansa quoted Coast Guard sources as saying.
According to Ansa, the migrant ship has around 500 asylum seekers on board, while some 200 fell into the water.
Some 50,000 migrants have landed in Italy in the first four months of this year, most from Syria, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia, said Gerarda Pantalone, an Italian official in charge of civil liberties and immigration, on Wednesday.
"The situation has got worse with the (good) weather," added Pantalone.
