Migrants sleep wrapped in blankets on the deck of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms boat on Monday. A Spanish NGO said on Saturday it had rescued 59 migrants as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya and would dock in Barcelona in Spain after Italy and Malta refused access. File photo: AFP

 
A total of 149 migrants have been rescued and some 20 are missing after a boat capsized late Saturday in stormy seas near the Italian island of Lampedusa, authorities and local media said Sunday.

The rescued migrants included 133 men, 13 women and three children, and the search is still going on, the Italian Coast Guard said in a statement on Twitter.

Survivors told rescuers the vessel was carrying more than 160 people and that some 20 passengers are missing, Italian news agency ANSA and public broadcaster RAI News 24 reported.

Lampedusa island in the Mediterranean Sea, which lies close to North Africa, is the first European landfall for migrants fleeing their home countries.