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.