Italy: Lampedusa shipwreck death-toll tops 320
last update: October 11, 17:34
Rome, 11 Oct. (AKI) - The number of African migrants known to have died in the shipwreck off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Friday reached 328 after divers recovered 17 more bodies.
A total of 155 migrants survived after their 20-metre boat caught fire and sank on 3 October one kilometre from Lampedusa after a sea voyage from Libya.
A total of 363 migrants including women and children are feared to have drowned in the tragedy, the worst of of its kind in recent European history.
There are believed to have been 518 passengers on the boat, mainly asylum-seekers from Somalia and Eritrea.
The boat sank after passengers panicked by flames set to draw the attention bolted to one side of the boat, capsizing it. Hundreds were flung into the sea – many could not swim – while others were trapped in the hull.
The ship's skipper, a Tunisian man named as Khaled Bensalam, was arrested and is being held in Agrigento Sicily. Suspected of belonging to a people-smuggling gang that made around 500,000 euros from the crossing, he faces a range of charges including manslaughter.
The tragedy prompted the European Union to announce plans to launch a major search and rescue operation across the Mediterranean by its borders agency Frontex.
http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Security/Italy-Lampedusa-shipwreck-death-toll-tops-320_32719769935.html
Received on Fri Oct 11 2013 - 18:41:48 EDT