ROME — A boat carrying as many as 300 migrants from Libya capsized in rough seas off the Italian coast early Wednesday, leaving 250 people unaccounted for. Survivors told of desperately trying to reach rescue boats as those unable to swim screamed in the darkness and pulled one another under the water.
If the number of dead is confirmed, it would be the deadliest crossing to Italy in recent memory, and the worst refugee disaster since a wave of migrants began arriving on Italian shores in January following popular revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
The Italian coast guard rescued 48 people Wednesday and a fishing boat picked up another three after the boat began taking on water shortly after 1 a.m.
Survivors told The International Organization for Migration that they swam toward approaching coast guard vessels, but many others drowned because they couldn’t swim or were dragged back by screaming fellow passengers.
Simona Moscarelli, the IOM’s Italy representative, told Sky TG24 that many survivors had their pants torn off as they tried to swim toward rescue boats as those left behind grabbed onto anything they could in a desperate struggle to stay afloat.
The commander of a fishing boat that rescued three people described what he said was a terrifying scene.
“What we saw was incredible: Heads were coming in and out (of the water) and people were screaming,” Francesco Rifiorito told ANSA. “We did all we could.”
The IOM said the migrants and asylum seekers were from Bangladesh, Chad, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan. Among them were five children and 40 women, of whom only two survived.
Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said many of those on board had sought asylum in Libya, only to be forced to flee by the fighting.
