At least three migrants drowned on Monday after leaping from a motorized dinghy as the coast guard approached, and another 10 migrants were missing, AP QUOTED officials as saying. The coast guard recovered three bodies and was searching for the missing in waters southeast of the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa, officials in Palermo said. More than 70 migrants had been making the clandestine voyage to Italy. Their nationalities were not immediately clear, officials said. The dinghy was one of three boats spotted off Malta earlier in the day. An estimated 500 clandestine migrants were aboard, authorities said. Italian guard and police vessels patrol the seas near Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula on the lookout for the thousands of migrants who attempt to slip into Italy via the country's long coastline. After the passengers make overland journeys from Africa or Asia, they board boats for the Mediterranean crossing arranged by smugglers. Many of the sea voyages begin on Libya's coastline, according to Italian officials who have tried to encourage Tripoli to crack down on the smuggling operations. The migrants who are found by Italian authorities are kept in temporary detention centers in Sicily or elsewhere, while their documents are checked. Those without jobs or families waiting for them in Italy are expelled.
