A group of migrants recently arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa after surviving a shipwreck off Malta. Some of the survivors reported on Tuesday (July 25) that they fell into the sea when someone from a Tunisian fishing vessel tried to steal their engine.

However, other survivors have reportedly said that the migrant boat capsized while it was being towed by a Tunisian fishing vessel because someone cut the rope when the migrant vessel started to take in water.

Six migrants likely died in the shipwreck

A reported 37 passengers survived the shipwreck, including 16 who were transported to Lampedusa's health center due to hypothermia or burns. A 36-year-old Ivorian woman died. Five people are still missing, including a child.

Prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Agrigento are now investigating the capsizing. Italian officials believe that gangs on board Tunisian fishing vessels might be stealing engines from migrant boats to sell them to smugglers.

Italian police say that a rising number of migrant boats are being found without their engines.

Death of 4-year-old girl

At the end of April this year, a four-year-old girl fell into the sea and drowned after the migrant boat on which she was traveling was reportedly approached by crew members of a Tunisian fishing vessels who tried to steal the engine.

And on March 26, a seven-meter-long vessel carrying 42 people was found adrift without its engine. Nearly all the passengers reportedly told rescuers that crew members of a Tunisian fishing boat had boarded their vessel and stolen the engine.