A boat carrying migrants and refugees capsized and sank yesterday, Sunday, a short distance from the island of Lampedusa, Italian authorities announced.

The Italian financial police and coast guard immediately responded, and using their speedboats managed to rescue 64 people. However, a two-year-old boy is still missing; he had started this long journey from Sierra Leone in Africa with his mother.

Italian authorities continued search operations late into yesterday evening and resumed at dawn. Over the past 48 hours, a total of 292 migrants and refugees have landed on Lampedusa. Most of the boats they were on had departed from the Libyan coast.