The Latest: Italy recovers 6 bodies from 2015 migrant wreck

BELGRADE, Serbia – The Latest on Europe’s migrant crisis (all times local):

1:05 p.m.

Besides rescuing migrants from smugglers’ boats, naval vessels in the Mediterranean are also recovering bodies from past shipwrecks on the bottom of the Mediterranean.

The Italian navy on Monday brought six migrants’ bodies to Sicily that were found near the collapsed wreck of a boat that sank on Aug. 5, 2015. When that shipwreck happened, an Irish naval vessel took on 373 survivors and 26 bodies that were immediately recovered.

Palermo-based prosecutors asked the Italian navy to try to locate the sunken wreck and retrieve any more bodies.

In December, a navy minesweeper located the wreck on the seabed, 60 metres (200 feet) down. The navy says inspections of the wreck and the surrounding area ascertained the presence of 10 bodies, but, for safety concerns, it was only possible to remove six.

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10:55 a.m.

Serbian police say they have found 29 migrants with no documents and arrested a suspected people smuggler.

Police said Monday they discovered the migrants in a southern village near the border town of Presevo. They say migrants were packed in two cars with false plates. The man caught with the migrants faces charges of illegal crossing of the border and people smuggling.

The smuggling of migrants through the Balkans has been on the rise since the nations shut their borders in March, closing down the traditional refugee route toward Western Europe.

More than one million people entered Europe last year and nations have been shutting down their borders to curb the influx.