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ROME (AP) – The Italian coast guard has retrieved an additional 14 bodies from the shipwreck in the Ionian Sea off southern Italy last week, increasing the confirmed death toll to 34. Dozens of individuals remain missing and are presumed deceased.
The bodies, recovered on Friday, were transported to a port in Calabria. Three coast guard vessels participated in the search operations, conducted some 190 kilometers (120 miles) from the coastline.
The recent fatalities contribute to the more than 800 people who have died or gone missing and are presumed lost while attempting to cross the central Mediterranean this year, averaging five fatalities per day, according to U.N. agencies.
