A man from Eritrea is rescued: the boat had almost made it to the coast, sinking just 800m away. (BBC)
By Matthew Chance
Lampedusa, Italy (CNN) — At the port in Lampedusa, recovery teams continue to fill trucks with the bodies they’re still pulling from the sea.
At least 287 so far — and that number could rise.
They are among the more than 500 African migrants believed to have been aboard a boat that sank off the island last Thursday. The tragedy amounted to Italy’s deadliest migrant shipwreck and, according to Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini, “the biggest sea tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea since World War II.”
The survivors — 155 of them, mainly from Eritrea, who swam for their lives and were lucky enough to be rescued by fishermen and the Coast Guard — wait in a cramped migrant detention center.
It was built to hold about 250 people but has held many times that in recent days. Each day, more people are leaving on ferries for other detention centers along the Italian coast, though 900 nonetheless remained Tuesday.
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Related:
Migrants Boat Disaster Off Lampedusa Island: Aerial Search Mounted (BBC News)
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