ROME — At least 40 migrants died Saturday in the hold of an overcrowded smuggling boat in the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya, apparently killed by fuel fumes, and some 320 others aboard were saved by the Italian navy, the rescue ship’s commander said.
Migrants by the tens of thousands are braving the perilous journey across the Mediterranean this year, hoping to reach Europe and be granted asylum. They are fleeing war, persecution and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
“The dead were found in the hold,” said Cmdr. Massimo Tozzi, speaking from the navy ship Cigala Fulgosi while the rescue was still ongoing. Asked by RaiNews24 how the migrants died, Tozzi said “it appears to be from inhaling exhaust fumes.”
When rescuers boarded the boat, the bodies of migrants were “lying in water, fuel, human excrement” in the hold, Tozzi said.
The death toll was not yet final.
“They are still counting the victims,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told reporters.
Tozzi said the survivors included three children and 45 women, some of whom “were crying for their husbands (and) their children who died in the crossing.”
The navy said that the survivors were later transferred to a Norwegian ship with the Frontex mission, a European effort to save migrant lives in the Mediterranean. The survivors were being brought to a southern Italian port.
Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, migrants on a Turkish beach scuffled over places on one inflatable dinghy and frantically bailed out another to keep it from sinking during a dramatic night that highlighted their desperation to reach the Greek island of Kos – and the safety of Europe.
The scenes, captured early Saturday by Associated Press journalists on a moonless night, came as Turkish authorities reported that 2,791 migrants have been caught in the Aegean Sea in the past five days alone, most of them Syrians.
Kos is only 2.5 miles from Turkey at its closest point, its twinkling lights an irresistible beacon to those fleeing war or poverty.
An Italian navy admiral coordinating the sea rescue missions said the first rescuers, in two rubber dinghies, approached the boat carefully, since often migrants rush to one side of their vessel when they spy help and the boat capsizes.
“We saw this boat filled up to unimaginable levels,” Adm. Pierpaolo Ribuffo said.
At least seven of the bodies had been transferred to the rescue vessel, which was headed toward Sicily, Ribuffo said.
An estimated 2,300 migrants have died at sea this year trying to make the crossing, according to figures released Friday by the International Organization for Migration.
Most migrants crossing the Mediterranean to southern Europe take one of two routes: From Turkey into Greece, or from North African countries, mainly Libya, to Italy. The Libya-to-Italy route is by far the deadliest. The exact toll of dead will never be known, as some smuggling boats are believed to have gone down at sea without rescuers being aware of them.
The migrants “put their lives in the hands of the smugglers” in order to escape from their dire conditions, said a U.N. refugee agency official, Barbara Molinario.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.