Mediterranean becoming ‘a cemetery’

Syrian refugees who survived a boat capsize off Malta in the latest disaster in the Mediterranean said yesterday they were fired on by “militiamen” as they set out on their perilous journey from Libya.

At least 33 people perished after the boat sank on Friday, a week after another shipwreck off Italy left at least 359 dead, prompting Malta to warn that the Mediterranean was becoming “a cemetery”.

The boat, carrying up to 400 migrants, mostly Syrians, left the Libyan port of Zwara on Thursday, 60km from the Tunisian border in chaotic conditions.

Some of the 206 known survivors said Libyan militiamen shot wildly at them, leaving several people dead and causing the vessel to take on water and sink.

Molhake al-Roarsan, 22, interviewed by Italy’s La Stampa daily, said three people had bullet wounds in the arms and legs.

“There was a furious fight, screaming on the radio and on the phone with someone who demanded that we return to land, but the captain did not stop.”

Meanwhile, searches were continuing after 180 migrants from Egypt, Somalia and Eritrea who were rescued overnight on Friday arrived yesterday in Porto Empedocle, in Sicily.

The town is also where the first 150 coffins containing the victims of the Oct 3 shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa were taken for burial.

Media reports said a new rescue operation was launched yesterday, with a navy and a coastguard ship heading out to pick up 400 migrants who sent out a distress call.

Italy has appealed to fellow EU states for help in managing the crisis and wants migration to be put on the agenda of summit talks in Brussels later this month.