Two men found dead on migrant boat rescued off Italy

Two bodies were found on a migrant boat rescued in the central Mediterranean, Italian authorities said Tuesday.

A rubber dinghy carrying 123 migrants - 107 men and 16 women - sent out a distress signal Monday morning to the Port Authority of Palermo, the Italian Coast Guard said.

A passing Greek merchant ship was asked to rescue the migrants. As it picked them up 145 nautical miles (27km) south-west of the island of Lampedusa, it found two passengers, both male, were dead.

The rescued migrants said they were from Somalia, according to Italian authorities.