20 migrants missing off Italy's Lampedusa after shipwreck

Twenty migrants were missing Tuesday off the coast of Italy's Lampedusa in a shipwreck in which seven people, including an eight-year-old Syrian child, were rescued, news media reported.

Among those missing were five women and three children, Italian news agency ANSA reported, with the mother of the eight-year-old among those unaccounted for.

Searches were under way by the coast guard and police, who were not immediately available for comment.

The boat had departed from Libya and those rescued were two Syrian men, two migrants from Sudan, two from Egypt and the child, according to ANSA.

"They didn't manage to touch the ground," Lampedusa Mayor Filippo Mannino was quoted as saying by ANSA.

"I hope so much, I say it every time, but today, coinciding with the end of the year, it's a very strong hope, that this tragedy will really be the last," Mannino said.