At least 27 migrants have died after a refugee boat capsized near the Italian coastal city of Crotone.
According to the news agency AFP, Italian media reported on Sunday that at least 30 people are feared to have drowned.
According to the authorities, the search for the missing persons is going on and it is being hindered by the stormy waves of the sea.
An aid worker told Italian media that a few-month-old baby was among the dead.
The rescue worker said that there were too many people on board the migrant boat, which capsized due to high seas.
Italian coast guards declined to comment on the accident when contacted by AFP.
The boat accident comes just days after Italy’s hard-right government introduced a controversial new law to protect migrants in parliament.
Far-right President Georgia Maloney came to power in October last year. His party promised in its manifesto to voters to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from arriving on Italy’s shores.
Under the new law, rescuers will try to save only one of the stricken migrant boats at a time.
Critics say the law is likely to increase the number of drownings in the central Mediterranean.
The route is considered the world’s most dangerous crossing for asylum seekers in Europe.
Large numbers of people fleeing conflict and poverty travel from Africa to Italy in hopes of a better life in Europe.
