Horror on migrant death boat
EU LEADERS today faced intense pressure to restart a full rescue mission in the Mediterranean as bodies from what is thought to be the area’s deadliest migrant disaster were brought ashore.
Italian coastguards were arriving in Malta with 24 coffins after a boat feared to be carrying as many as 950 migrants sank. Only 28 have been rescued so far.
Chilling stories of men, women and children locked in the boat’s hold emerged as Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond discussed the tragedy with EU counterparts in urgent talks today.
He and other leaders sought to expose the “vile trade” of traffickers promising passage to Europe from war-torn Libya. But they also faced fierce attacks over a previous decision to cancel an Italian
‘I saw a little boy face down in a huge oil slick that marked the grave of so many poor people’
Rescuer Vincenzo Bonomo
operation —which had rescued tens of thousands — and replace it with a limited EU border mission.
So far only 28 survivors have been rescued from the 20 metre-long fishing vessel in the latest tragedy. Initial reports said 700 were aboard, but a Bangladeshi survivor claimed it was carrying 950 people.
He told authorities in Sicily: “There were 950 of us, 40 to 50 children and 200 women, the others all men.
“I and the others managed to survive because we were outside but many of the others remained prisoners in the hold of the boat because the traffickers had locked them in to stop them from getting out and they finished at the bottom of the sea.”
Fisherman Vincenzo Bonomo, who searched in vain for more survivors, said: “I saw kids’ shoes, jackets, I saw life jackets, I saw a notebook and a backpack and a little boy face down in a huge oil slick that marked the grave of so many of the poor people.
“But I could not find even one survi- vor. Not one.” More than 1,500 refugees have died so far this year trying to cross from Libya, and the Red Cross expects 200,000 to attempt the perilous trip during 2015.
Mr Hammond said the whole world was horrified by the death toll and added: “As well as helping to identify and target traffickers by offering the expertise of our National Crime Agency and security services, Britain can make an important contribution to addressing factors driving migration through our aid programme.”
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said trafficking was “a plague”, but argued that stopping boats from leaving Libya in the first place was the key, not a bigger rescue mission.
Labour called on the UK government to reverse its “immoral” withdrawal of support for full rescue missions.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the “cure” lay in dealing with why migrants sought refuge.
Last September 500 migrants drowned after their boat sank off Malta.