A Coast Guard boat leaves the harbour of the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, October 4, 2013
Italy's coast guard says many of the migrants aboard a boat that capsized off Lampedusa have survived and helicopters are taking the injured to the Sicilian island.
Coast guard spokesman Marco Di Milla says "a good number" of the estimated 200 people have been rescued.
He says the coast guard received a satellite phone call from the boat and was able to locate it based on the satellite coordinates.
A Maltese armed forces statement says that since the boat was in Maltese search and rescue waters, a Maltese aircraft was sent up and reported that the boat had capsized and that "numerous" people were in the water. The aircraft dropped a life raft and a patrol boat soon arrived at the scene.