Scores die on migrant horror ship

Up to 70 people trying to reach Europe illegally from Libya have perished
at sea in horrific conditions.

Men, women and children died of hunger and thirst after the boat broke
down and drifted for at least 10 days before being spotted by an Italian
ship.

Only 15 were alive when rescuers reached the corpse-strewn boat.

Italy has demanded action on both sides of the Mediterranean to tackle
traffickers who exploit the desperation of clandestine migrants.

Many of the estimated 85 people who boarded the boat in Libya were
Somalis, Italian police said.


What we saw was like a vision of hell
Captain Stefano Valfre

They reportedly included seven children, all of whom perished on the way.
The Italian captain who sighted the ship off the southern island of
Lampedusa said he found a scene like something out of hell.

The living and the dead were piled one on top of another as survivors had
progressively lost the strength to throw the corpses overboard at sea.

"When we came closer to the drifting boat, what we saw was like a vision
of hell," said Stefano Valfre, 34.

"The dead were piled up. We approached, but not too close, because we were
afraid of upsetting the boat. We threw them some bread and bottles of
water to keep them going while they waited for the coastguard."

Of the emaciated survivors, seven were put in intensive care in hospital
in Sicily.

'Cold-blooded trade'

The deaths are the latest in a long series of disasters at sea, although
the toll is particularly heavy.


Last week, seven Somali migrants reportedly drowned when their boat
capsized off Italy. The captain was arrested and charged with multiple
manslaughter.
In another incident, a group of 45 Egyptian illegal migrants who set sail
for Italy on Sunday were said to have been rescued after their boat
capsized during bad weather at sea near Malta.

Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu spoke out on Monday, calling on
both African and European states to do more to tackle people-trafficking.

"This tragedy weighs heavily on the conscience of Europe but it also puts
in the spotlight African governments who are doing nothing to control this
exodus," he told a meeting of EU interior ministers in France.

It was, he said, "up to Europe and Africa to work together intensively so
as to regulate migration and combat the organisations that cold-bloodedly
exploit clandestine immigrants".


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3205974.stm

Published: 2003/10/20 19:25:36 GMT

© BBC MMIII

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