Italian asylum disaster 'skipper' held
John Follain The Times October 07, 2013 12:00AM
ITALIAN authorities are questioning a Tunisian suspected of being the skipper of the boat that sank off Sicily last week, with the loss of up to 300 lives, after he allegedly tried to pass himself off as one of the passengers.
Khaled Bensalam, 35, claims that he was one of the 500 people, mainly from Eritrea and Somalia, who had paid up to $US1500 ($1590) for a place on the ship which sank near the island of Lampedusa on Thursday in the worst tragedy in the Mediterranean involving refugees.
Bensalam was identified by another survivor, Aregai Mehari, 37, an Eritrean.
Mehari told police that during the voyage from Misrata, in Libya, the Tunisian often went down into the hold with a torch to check the engine of the 20m-long boat.
"That man was the only one with light-coloured skin, together with another man. The rest of us were all dark-skinned," Mehari said.
Investigators said Bensalam had been making his second journey to Lampedusa.
In April he was arrested there after sailing another boatful of asylum-seekers to the island, but he was then expelled.
The move comes as survivors were given the opportunity to mourn their loved ones and Italy denied claims that rescue efforts were delayed.
Rough seas around Lampedusa have suspended the search, and controversy has erupted over conditions in which survivors as young as 11 were being housed in an overcrowded refugee centre.
Howls of anguish could be heard from inside a giant hangar at the local airport where the 111 bodies recovered so far were being kept as survivors still in shock paid their respects.
The coffins were lined up in a row with a rose on each one, and teddy bears placed on the four white coffins of children.
Officials say survivors want bodies repatriated to Eritrea, the country they were fleeing.
Meanwhile, Filippo Marini, a coast guard spokesman, rejected as "stupid" claims by a tourist who was the first on the scene of the sinking that the rescue was delayed and badly handled.
There were also questions about why radars failed to spot the boat, as dramatic amateur video footage emerged showing an Eritrean man being hauled aboard a private boat in the chaotic rescue. "You have to search or 480 people are going to die!" he is heard saying in the video released by Italian TG2 News, before bursting into tears and vomiting sea water, exclaiming, "Oh my God!"
Divers have said "dozens, maybe hundreds" of bodies are still trapped in and around the wreck at the bottom of the sea, while 155 survivors were rescued.
An Eritrean survivor said the asylum-seekers had been given six litres of water, to be shared between three, for the three-day journey. Asked why there were no lifejackets on board, he told Italian newspapers: "No money."
The boat managed the crossing in rough seas and then approached one of the most remote areas of Lampedusa, which lies between Malta and Tunisia.
Its engine stopped working and the passengers tried to attract the attention of passing fishing boats by burning shirts and T-shirts. When part of the boat caught fire they rushed to one side, causing it to capsize. Three more boats carrying nearly 400 asylum-seekers landed in Italy at the weekend, underscoring the size of the problem.
Additional reporting: AFP
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/italian-asylum-disaster-skipper-held/story-fnb64oi6-1226733825414#
Received on Sun Oct 06 2013 - 12:19:24 EDT