At least 27 migrants have died after a migrant boat capsized near the Italian coastal city of Crotone.
According to the news agency AFP, Italian media said on Sunday that at least 30 people are feared to have drowned.
The search for the missing persons is going on and is being hampered by strong waves.
An aid worker told Italian media that a few-month-old baby was among the dead.
A rescue worker said there were too many people on board the migrant boat which capsized due to high seas.
Italian coast guards declined to comment on the accident when contacted by AFP.
The boat accident comes days after Italy’s hard-right government introduced a controversial new law to protect migrants in parliament.
Far-right President Georgia Maloney took office in October last year. His party promised voters in its manifesto that it would stem the flow of illegal immigrants arriving on Italy’s shores.
Under the new law, aid workers try to save only one boatful of migrants at a time.
Critics say the law threatens to increase the number of drownings in the Mediterranean.
The route is considered the world’s most dangerous crossing point for asylum seekers in Europe.
Large numbers of people fleeing conflict and poverty travel from Africa to Italy in the hope of a better life in Europe.
