ATHENS

A two-year-old girl died and eight other people were missing after a boat carrying 53 migrants sank off Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, local media reported on Tuesday.

Authorities in Italy managed to rescue 45 people but the two-year-old girl died on board the ship that was carrying them to the island, according to the state-run ANSA news agency.

Two children were among the missing people, the news agency quoted survivors as saying.

Lampedusa has been in the spotlight in recent months due to a significant spike in the number of migrant boats landing there.

Some 1,087 people arrived on Lampedusa on Monday in migrant boats, including a vessel that was carrying 576 people from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.