1 migrant dead, 35 rescued off Italian coast

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The body of a migrant woman was recovered on Monday morning and 35 migrants were rescued along the Puglia coast in southern Italy, local reports said.

The woman was part of a group of at least 40 Somali migrants, including some women and one minor, thrown into the water near rocks by migrant traffickers during the night, according to first investigations.

Italian authorities rescued 35 migrants in three different points along the coast, Rai state television said, but three of four women were reported to be missing.

A man and a woman found in the water and suffering hypothermia were rushed to hospital, according to ANSA news agency.

Investigators were listening to the accounts of survivors, which however appeared to be highly incongruent, la Repubblica national newspaper said.

Monday's death was the latest of migrant tragedies that according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) led to 3,771 migrants and refugees losing their lives in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe in 2015, marking it the deadliest year on record.

IOM recorded total sea arrivals to Europe in 2015 at 1,004,356 or almost five times the previous year's total of 219,000.

The Italian government led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has repeatedly called for focused actions in Libya to be carried out at the European level in the framework of international legality to contain the emergency of illegal immigration.

Renzi announced on Sunday that the depenalisation of illegal immigration into Italy, due to be examined by the government this week, was no longer on his political agenda amid widespread feelings of insecurity.

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