October 7, 2013 -- Updated 1343 GMT (2143 HKT)
As recovery teams continue to search for bodies off the Italian island
of Lampedusa, survivors from the capsized migrant boat recall the women
and children floating dead in the water. FULL STORY
|
ITALY MOURNS
Lampedusa boat sinking: Survivors recall ordeal
October 7, 2013 -- Updated 1040 GMT (1840 HKT)
Shipwreck tragedy
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Firsthand accounts are helping build a picture of why the boat capsized
- Lampedusa is a common destination for African refugees
- There's been criticism more was not done to help
- Survivor: "My mind is scarred"
More than 190 so far -- and climbing.
They are among 500
African immigrants believed to be aboard a boat that sank off the island
Thursday in Italy's deadliest migrant shipwreck.
The survivors -- 155 of
them, mainly from Eritrea -- wait in a cramped migrant detention center.
It was built to hold 250 people but houses more than 1,200.
Germani Nagassi, 30, told CNN he'll never forget what he saw.
"For five hours we were
floating, using the dead bodies of our companions," he said. "There is
nothing worse than this. There were many children. There was a mother
with her four children, a mother with an infant, all lost at sea. My
mind is scarred and in a terrible condition."
Dozens dead in Italian boat accident
The traumatic first hand
accounts are helping build a picture of why the boat ended up on the
seabed of the Mediterranean with most of its passengers entombed below
deck.
13 days at sea
The vessel was packed with hundreds of African migrants.
Because of its location
as the closest Italian island to Africa, Lampedusa is a common
destination for African refugees seeking to enter European Union
countries, and shipwrecks off its shores are common.
Survivors described spending 13 days on the boat before the engine stopped less than a mile from the small Mediterranean island, halfway between Sicily and Tunisia.
There's been criticism
more was not done to help, that the Italian Coast guard was too slow to
respond, that they spent precious time filming footage of the rescue
instead of saving more lives.
Hamid Mohammad, 18, swears an Italian vessel spotted them in trouble off the coast, but did nothing.
"The Italian's boat
started circling around us. They circled our boat twice, then just went
away," he said. "That's when people started to panic."
Fire on board
The boat's captain told the passengers to set fire to clothes and blankets to attract attention.
"He gathered some clothes and bed sheets and lit them. But his container of benzene exploded," Mohammad said.
The fire then spread and
when many of the migrants crowded to one side, the boat capsized, said
Italian lawmaker Mario Marazziti, citing survivors' accounts.
"People were screaming as the boat capsized," Mohammed said.
The lucky few
In response to
criticism, the coast guard Saturday defended its response time and said
its crews were on site 20 minutes after receiving the SOS call.
"The moment we got the
emergency call from the fishermen at 7 a.m. we immediately intervened
and started coordinating the rescue operations," said coast guard
spokesman Filippo Marini
Abrahalli Amare, 23, was one of the lucky few who were eventually rescued.
"We left our country
because of hardship, so that we could live in peace and help our
families," said Abrahalli Amare, 23. "But we have found this bitter
sadness. It was so unexpected, so disturbing. And now we can't think of
anything else,"
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