In an updated press release on Monday, the Italian coast guard said it had still not found any trace of the person reported missing following the migrant rescue operation off the coast of Syracuse in Sicily. Two people died following the incident on Saturday (August 3).

Planes and boats continue to be deployed in the search, stated the coast guard.

It also admitted that following "initial reconstructions of events, it believed that in the early stages of the rescue, which was made more difficult because of the scarce nighttime visibility and difficult marine conditions, involving high waves, the coast guard vessel may have collided with the migrant boat as it arrived to intervene."

Also read: Two dead and one missing after migrant rescue off Sicily

Saturday night

The coast guard received a request for help late on Saturday night from a person who told them they were on board a migrant boat in difficulty about 17 nautical miles south-east of Syracuse, in Sicily.

In a press release issued the following day, the coast guard added that the migrants on board the boat in difficulty said they were from Syria, Egypt and Bangladesh. A boat was sent out to investigate, along with an aircraft to establish their exact position.

During the rescue operation, 34 migrants were transferred to the port of Syracusa. One person was already dead upon arrival in port. A second migrant died on being transferred to a hospital on arrival.

Earlier on Monday, the coast guard had stated that during the search and rescue operation, "for reasons yet to be established," the migrants on board the boat were in the water before being brought on board the coast guard vessel.

Full cooperation with prosecutors

The Italian coast guard said that its forces were cooperating fully with Syracuse state prosecutors to try to reconstruct exactly what happened. Earlier on Monday, the coast guard had admitted that the migrants it saved had had to be pulled from the water, and that the boat they had been traveling on had subsequently sunk.

The Italian state broadcaster Rai said that one of the two deceased migrants had died from a pulmonary embolism [a blockage stopping blood flow to an artery in the lung: ed] en route to the port. The cause of the second person's death was not reported.

Rai added that ten of the migrants had been taken to hospital with "serious cuts and fractures, possibly as a result of the collision."