At least 41 migrants have died near the Italian island of Lampedusa after the boat they were traveling on capsized and sank while sailing through the Sicilian channel in the Mediterranean. According to local media, the barge had apparently departed from the city of Sfax, in Tunisia, last Thursday, but until this Wednesday what happened was not known. Four survivors of the tragedy, originally from the Ivory Coast and Guinea-Conakry, who have been rescued by a merchant ship that was in the area and transferred this morning by the Italian coast guard to the mainland, have recounted what happened to the authorities.
According to the Italian public television, RAI, the shipwrecked have explained that 45 people were traveling on the boat, including three children, who went out to sea last Thursday morning and that after about 6 hours of navigation the 7-meter metal boat of length overturned when hitting a large wave. Based on the first reconstructions and the testimony of the survivors, who are in a state of shock, all the passengers ended up in the sea and only 15 were wearing life jackets, although they still disappeared in the water. Neither the merchantman that rescued them nor the Coast Guard have seen any bodies so far. This is probably because the castaways were rescued several days after the wreck and some distance from where the sinking occurred. At the moment, more details of what happened are unknown.
The survivors have been transferred to Lampedusa to be cared for in the first reception center on the island, which has a capacity for around 400 people and which currently houses around 1,500 migrants. Although the media indicate that transfers of migrants from this structure to Sicily or the peninsula are expected to lighten the occupation.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
subscribe
