Divers have been searching the wreck of the boat that was carrying around 500 African migrants to Europe but sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa on Thursday.
The boat reportedly caught fire, and as those on board all moved to one side of the vessel it capsized throwing them all into the water less than 1km from the coast of the island.
Around 300 people are believed to have drowned, with the majority of those on board unable to swim, but only 111 bodies have so far been found. The diving operation has been temporarily suspended due to adverse weather conditions, but is expected to resume soon, with the divers searching a wider area to find any bodies that had floated away with the tide.
Some of the bodies are being housed in an aircraft hangar at Lampedusa’s airport, because the island’s morgue could not house them all.
It is believed that the boat was ferrying migrants from countries such as Somalia and Eritrea into Europe, with the boat having left from Misrata in Libya early Thursday morning.
The boat was captained by a 35-year-old Tunisian man who “had been deported from Italy in April” according to Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.
Italian leaders have called the situation a “European tragedy” and asked for greater support from the European Union in dealing with migration and human trafficking, with boats carrying migrants from Africa and the Middle East landing on Italy’s shores almost daily in periods of calmer weather as they flee conflict or persecution. More than 30,000 migrants have landed on Italy’s shores in 2013 so far according to UN statistics.
Volker Türk, UNHCR’s Director of International Protection, described the plight of people who are forced to flee their own countries our of despair in boats that are unseaworthy.
