About 30 bodies have been found by Italian Navy after it intercepted a boat carrying some 590 refugees and migrants from North Africa to Sicily, Italian news agencies reported.

About 30 bodies have been found by Italian Navy after it intercepted a boat carrying some 590 refugees and migrants from North Africa to Sicily, Italian news agencies reported.

Asphyxiation was apparently the cause of the deaths.

Italy is a destination for thousands of people from Africa and the Middle East seeking for a new life in Europe, with the number of migrants that had arrived this year alone over 60,000.