For the second time in a week, a smugglers' boat overloaded with migrants capsized in the Canal of Sicily on Friday as it made the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe. At least 27 people drowned, but 221 people were rescued in a joint Italian-Maltese operation, officials said. 
 
 In this video image made available by the Armed Forces of Malta from an overflying aircraft, a life raft carrying survivors floats in the sea between Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa, Friday... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this video image made available by the Armed Forces of Malta from an overflying aircraft, a life raft carrying survivors floats in the sea between Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa, Friday... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this video image made available by the Armed Forces of Malta from an overflying aircraft, a life raft carrying survivors floats in the sea between Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa, Friday... (Associated Press) 
 
 Helicopters ferried the injured to Lampedusa, the Italian island that is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and the destination of choice for most smugglers' boats leaving Tunisia or Libya. It was off Lampedusa that a migrant ship from Libya capsized Oct. 3 with some 500 people aboard. Only 155 survived. 
 
 Friday's capsizing occurred 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Lampedusa, but in waters where Malta has search and rescue responsibilities. 
 
 The two shipwrecks were the latest grim reminder of the extreme risks that migrants and asylum-seekers often take in an effort to slip into Europe every year by boat. Facing unrest and persecution in Africa and the Middle East, many of the migrants think the Lampedusa escape route to Europe, which is barely 70 miles (113 kilometers) from northern Africa, is worth the risk. 
 
 "They do know that they are risking their lives, but it is a rational decision," said Maurizio Albahari, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. "Because they know for a fact they will be facing death or persecution at home _ whatever remains of their home, or assuming there is a home in the first place." 
 
 What drives them is the hope that they'll have a better life in Europe for themselves and their children, he said. "It's either perish or go somewhere." 
 
 In the latest case, the Italian coast guard said it received a satellite phone call from the boat that it was in distress and was able to locate it based on the satellite coordinates, said coast guard spokesman Marco Di Milla. 
 
 A Maltese aircraft was sent up and reported that the boat had capsized and that "numerous" people were in the water. The aircraft dropped a life raft, and a patrol boat soon arrived at the scene, according to a statement from the Maltese armed forces. 
 
 Late Friday, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reported that 27 bodies had been recovered, three of them children. 
 
 He said 150 survivors were rescued aboard a Maltese ship. An Italian patrol boat had another 56 survivors, while a fishing boat had 15, said Cmdr. Marco Maccaroni of the Italian navy. Between the Italian and Maltese ships, the total of survivors came to 221, though it wasn't clear if the injured who were flown by helicopter to Lampedusa were included in that figure. 
 
 The incident occurred as recovery operations continued Friday off Lampedusa for victims of the Oct. 3 shipwreck. The death toll stood Friday at 339, including a newborn recovered with its umbilical cord still attached, Di Milla said. 
 
 The recent deaths prompted renewed calls for the European Union to do more to better patrol the southern Mediterranean and prevent such tragedies _ and for countries like Libya to crack down on smuggling operations. 
 
 "We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a cemetery," Muscat told a news conference in Valletta, the Maltese capital. 
 
 Lampedusa is the destination of choice for smugglers who usually charge more than 1,000 euro ($1,355) a head and cram the migrants onto boats that routinely run into trouble and require rescue. Fortress Europe, an Italian observatory that tracks migrant deaths reported by the media, says about 6,450 people died in the Canal of Sicily between 1994 and 2012. 
 
 Once in Italy, the migrants are screened for asylum and often sent back home if they don't qualify. During the 1990s and early 2000s, many of the arrivals were considered "economic migrants." But many of the latest arrivals are fleeing persecution and conflict in places such as Syria and Eritrea, and qualify for refugee status, U.N. officials say. 
 
 Many eventually end up in northern Europe's larger and more organized immigrant communities. 
 
 During a visit to Lampedusa this week, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso promised Italy some 30 million euro ($41 million) in EU funds to better care for newly arrived migrants. 
 
 Italian officials pledged to put the issue on the agenda of an upcoming European Union summit and on the EU agenda next year, when Italy and Greece hold the EU presidencies. 
 
 Some 30,100 migrants arrived in Italy and Malta in the first nine months of 2013, compared with 15,000 in all of 2012, according to the U.N. refugee agency. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Calleja reported from Valletta, Malta, and Winfield from Rome. Sylvia Hui contributed from London. 

 Deaths as another migrant boat sinks in Channel of Sicily Comes after disaster last week that may have claimed 363 lives 
 
 (ANSA) - Rome, October 11 - Dead bodies were seen floating in the sea after a boat carrying an estimated 250 migrants sank in the Channel of Sicily on Friday, Navy sources said. Two Italian Navy ships and helicopters are in the area for the rescue effort and dozens of survivors were reported to be aboard one of the ships. Italian coast guard and police vessels were also travelling to the area.The wreck comes just eight days after a migrant-boat disaster near the Sicilian island of Lampedusa in which as many as 363 people, mostly Eritrean and Somali, may have died.Friday's incident took place some 60 miles south of Lampedusa in Maltese waters.The Maltese Navy said the migrants started moving around on their boat, which had run into trouble, to attract the attention of a Maltese military aircraft on a patrol.This movement reportedly caused the boat to capsize. European Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso pledged the EU would give more help to Italy to cope with its migrant crisis during a visit to Lampedusa on Wednesday following last week's disaster. Lampedusa is the main port of entry into Europe for migrants smuggled by boat from Libya or Tunisia.Each year, thousands of people make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in often rickety and overcrowded vessels.Pope Francis visited Lampedusa on his first trip outside the Rome area in July to draw attention to the plight of refugees.
– About 50 people are dead, including 10 children, after another boat carrying migrants to Italy capsized today in the Channel of Sicily, ANSA reports. (The AP's death toll is at 27.) It could have been far worse: Officials estimate that 200 of the 250 migrants on board have been rescued by an Italian Navy vessel and a Maltese ship. The tragedy—the second migrant-boat disaster there in 8 days—apparently started when migrants moved around on their boat to signal Maltese military aircraft about a problem on board. That caused the boat to capsize. Today's disaster provides "dramatic confirmation of the emergency situation" faced in Italy with migrants, said Premier Enrico Letta. Last week, up to 363 people died when a migrant boat capsized in the same waters. European Commission President Jose Barroso responded by promising that the EU would help Italy handle its migrant crisis. The island of Lampedusa is the main entry point for migrants trying to enter Europe; thousands make the scary trip across the Mediterranean each year, usually in creaky and overcrowded boats.