A ship carrying more than 200 illegal immigrants sank in Libyan waters.

The rescue operation has begun, so far less than 50 people have been rescued. The location of the incident is about 2 10 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa. A spokesman for Malta's navy said that Italian ships and merchant ships have joined the emergency rescue operation. In recent years, due to the inability of Libyan authorities to implement effective border management, a large number of illegal immigrants have smuggled across the Mediterranean to Europe with Libya as a transit point, and shipwrecks have also occurred frequently. The sinking of the ship is believed to be caused by immigrants moving to its side when the merchant ship approached.