Lampedusa sinking: Hundreds of coffins lined up in airport hangar as rescuers are delayed again by high winds
6 Oct 2013 13:19
Teddy bears have been placed on each of the white coffins belonging to child victims of the tragedy
The coffins of more than 100 people who drowned after an African migrant boat sank off the coast of Italy are being gathered inside a giant airport hangar, making plain the horrendous scale of the tragedy.
Rows of adult coffins have been lined up side by side, while white coffins for some of the child victims have had teddy bears touchingly placed on top.
A total of 111 bodies have been recovered from the sea off the island of Lampedusa - with divers pulling ten more from the sea this morning - after a boat carrying 500 migrants from Somalia and Eritrea caught fire and sank on Thursday.
Rescue teams managed to save 155 people, but 200 are still missing and search teams say many will never be found.
Coastguard crews were yesterday accused of being slow to respond to the sinking , with one of the first fishermen on the scene claiming they wasted time by filming footage of rescuers' efforts.
Vito Fiorino said: "They refused to take on board some people we'd already saved because they said protocol forbade it."
But the Italian coastguard denied its crews were delayed.
Rescuers were prevented from reaching the boat again yesterday by high winds, as Italian officials raised concerns over the plight of survivors.
A delegation and lawmakers and officials said they would live in terrible conditions and face criminal prosecution when moved to Lampedusa's immigration centre.
Rosario Crocetta, Sicily's regional governor, said: "We have the duty to tell the Italian government and the EU that their structures and policies are not only inadequate, but they're criminal."
Reuters reports the centre, which is equipped to house 250 people, is now packed with more than 1,000.
Reporters and TV cameras are kept out, but clearly seen through the front gate were families with children camping under a stand of shade trees, with foam mattresses for beds and clothing drying on lines stretched between the trunks.
The lawmakers said they spoke to a group of the survivors of Thursday’s shipwreck, and were told that each migrant paid thousands of dollars to smugglers first to cross the Sahara desert, and then to buy passage across the Mediterranean.
Lampedusa is a favoured destination for smugglers’ boats
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/lampedusa-sinking-hundreds-coffins-lined-2343821
Received on Sun Oct 06 2013 - 12:18:44 EDT