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Search in Med goes on; fears as many as 200 migrants might have gone down with capsized boat

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Survivors of the capsizing and sinking of a fishing boat crowded with migrants are brought aboard Irish and Italian Navy life-boats to the Dignity I MSF search and rescue vessel which responded to the emergency in the Mediterranean sea off Libya, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. The Italian coast guard and Irish navy said at least 367 people were saved, although 25 bodies also were found in the latest human smuggling tragedy. (Marta Soszynska/MSF via AP) (The Associated Press)

A man from Bangladesh who survived the capsizing and sinking of a fishing boat crowded with migrants receives medical aid aboard the Dignity I MSF search and rescue vessel which responded to the emergency in the Mediterranean sea off Libya, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. The Italian coast guard and Irish navy said at least 367 people were saved, although 25 bodies also were found in the latest human smuggling tragedy. (Marta Soszynska/MSF via AP) (The Associated Press)

The scene of the capsizing and sinking of a fishing boat crowded with migrants is seen from the deck of the Dignity I MSF search and rescue vessel which responded to the emergency in the Mediterranean sea off Libya, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. The Italian coast guard and Irish navy said at least 367 people were saved, although 25 bodies also were found in the latest human smuggling tragedy. (Marta Soszynska/MSF via AP) (The Associated Press)

Military vessels and aircraft from a multi-nation operation are searching waters off Libya for a second day for any more survivors from an overturned boat crowded with migrants.

With seas warm and calm, rescuers have expressed hopes others might be alive on Thursday, a day after a 20-meter (66-foot) long fishing boat capsized as rescuers approached.

In the first hours after the accident, 367 survivors were rescued and 25 bodies recovered. Military officials from Ireland, which has a navy vessel in the rescue mission, said they were given an initial estimate of 600 migrants aboard the smugglers' boat. If that estimate holds, as many as 200 migrants inside the boat might have drowned.

The Irish vessel was expected to reach Sicily later Thursday with most of the survivors.