300 feared dead in Italy boat disaster
Three hundred people are feared dead after a boat carrying up to 500 African asylum seekers caught fire and sank off Italian shores in the worst recent refugee disaster in the Mediterranean.
Rescuers and local fishermen were overcome with emotion as they spoke of chaotic early morning scenes in the water, with “a sea of heads” as desperate refugees waved their arms and screamed.
There were also stories of survival such as a young Eritrean woman thought dead and laid out with other corpses before medical personnel realised she was still breathing and revived her.
A UN official has blamed a repressive policy towards illegal immigrants for the tragedy, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he hoped the disaster would be a “spur to action” to protecting migrants’ rights, and improving the public perception of immigrants.
Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano initially reported “93 victims, including three children and two pregnant women”, but rescue divers later said they had identified at least 40 more bodies.
With only 150 survivors plucked from the water more than 12 hours after the disaster, there are fears the final toll could rise to 300 or more.
“Seeing the bodies of the children was a tragedy. We have run out of coffins,” said Pietro Bartolo, a doctor. “In many years of work here, I have never seen anything like this,” he said.
Lampedusa is one of the main entry points into the EU for asylum seekers crossing from north Africa or the eastern Mediterranean.
Survivors say they are from Eritrea and Somalia and had left from the Libyan port of Misrata.
They told rescuers they had set fire to a blanket to attract the attention of coastguards after their vessel began taking on water and passing fishing boats ignored them.
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The fire spread quickly, sowing panic on board, which caused the boat to flip over and sink, as people jumped into the sea to save themselves.
The bodies are being taken to a hangar at the local airport because there is no more room in the morgue on the remote island, which has a population of around 6,000.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta called the incident “an immense tragedy” and the government declared a national day of mourning on Friday and a minute of silence to be held in all schools.
About 25,000 people have landed on Italian shores so far this year – more than three times the number for the whole of 2012.
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