The spokesperson said the boat had set off from western Libya late Saturday or early Sunday, meaning it was at sea for at least three days. Among those on board were illegal migrants from Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Bad weather has roiled the Mediterranean this year limiting the number of departures from North Africa, and posing grave problems for those who have managed to put to sea.
Latest Italian interior ministry data says 6,117 illegal migrants have reached the country by boat so far this year against 9,215 in the same period of 2025, and 11,416 in the first three months of 2024.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Alvise Armellini, editing by Francesca Piscioneri and Gavin Jones