Nine migrants including a little girl died in waters within Malta's search and rescue zone on Wednesday while another 22 were rescued, the Italian Coast Guard said.

It said that at Malta's request it deployed a launch to rescue the migrants after their small boat sank 30km south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The Coast Guard said the operation was particularly complex because of very rough seas with waves of up to 2.50 metres.

The migrants were taken to Lampedusa, with some of them suffering severe hypothermia.

An Italian Coast Guard plane was also used, at the request of the Maltese coordinating authority, to search for missing migrants and nine lifeless bodies were recovered, including that of a little girl.  

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