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ROME : Italian coastguards searched the Mediterranean Sea on Friday for the bodies of 73 migrants from Eritrea feared dead from hunger and thirst whilst trying to reach Europe from North Africa.
They began looking for the missing after five other migrants -- rescued the day before off Lampedusa island -- said they had perished during the voyage and that their bodies had been dumped at sea.
"Searches are underway, but for the moment we have recovered no bodies," an official with the Guardia de Finanza (customs) coastguard service in Lampedusa told AFP.
The emaciated survivors said their small 12-metre (40-foot) boat -- which set off from Libya -- had been adrift without fuel for 20 days, and that they received no help from several passing vessels.
"As if fear were more important than the duty to help others at sea," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Laura Boldrini, describing the reported failure to help as "alarming."
The disappearances reignited a furore against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's anti-immigration policies, including a May deal with Tripoli aimed at preventing migrants headed for Europe from using Libya as a springboard.
"The fight against illegal immigration is one thing, but the lack of respect for human rights is another," said Dario Franceschini, leader of the opposition Democratic Party.
The disappearances are "yet another tragedy that could have been avoided, a tragedy that weighs on our nation's shoulders," said Leoluca Orlando of the centrist Italy of Values party.
Right-wing parties backed Berlusconi's controversial deal with Libya, via which migrants from around Africa head for Europe, and helped introduce a new law in August which made illegal immigration a crime.
"Let's not forget that Italy hosts millions of foreigners out of humanitarian concern," said Maurizio Gasparri from the majority centre-right PDL party.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told Sicilian officials to investigate the survivors' claim, saying that "the version of events provided by the migrants remains to be verified".
Italian newspapers reported Friday that four bodies were spotted in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, and three more on Thursday, by German and Luxembourg aircraft from the EU border patrol agency Frontex.
They were spotted in Libyan waters, but it was not clear if they were among the missing 73 migrants, the reports said.
The deal with Libya has been condemned by human rights organisations, the UNHCR as well as the Vatican, who say that asylum seekers could be among the immigrants.
Last year the Italian interior ministry recorded some 36,900 arrivals of boat people, most from Libya, a 75 percent increase from the year before, but arrivals have fallen off sharply since the signing of the May deal.
- AFP /ls
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