Rome [Italy], August 10: At least 41 people are dead after a boat accident involving migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Wednesday, citing survivor accounts.
The boat had set sail from the Tunisian coastal town of Sfax in the direction of Italy and capsized when a large wave struck off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
A total of 45 people, including three children, were said to have been on the metal boat.
Three men and one woman were rescued by a Maltese cargo ship and brought to Lampedusa by the Italian coastguard.
The island is located just under 190km from Sfax.
The survivors said 41 people died. However, no bodies have yet been found, ANSA reported. One explanation for this is that survivors were rescued far from the scene of the accident. Those rescued also reported that only 15 life jackets were available on board.
The survivors - a 13-year-old boy, two men and a woman - told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children.
They said the boat, which was about 7m (20ft) long, left Sfax on Thursday last week, but sank within hours after being hit by a big wave. Only 15 people are understood to have been wearing lifejackets, but this apparently failed to save their lives.
The Italian Red Cross and German charity Sea-Watch said the four managed to survive the shipwreck by floating on inner tubes and lifejackets until they found another empty boat at sea, in which they spent several days drifting before being rescued.
The four survivors arrived in Lampedusa suffering from exhaustion and shock, but the doctor who treated them, Adrian Chiaramonte, said they had only minor injuries.
"What really struck us was the story of the tragedy," he said. "They said they had encountered a first ship, which had apparently ignored them.
"An hour later they were spotted by a helicopter, and an hour after that sighting, they were picked up by an oil tanker."
Tunisian authorities say Sfax is a popular gateway for migrants seeking safety and a better life in Europe. In recent days, Italian patrol boats and charity groups have rescued another 2,000 people who have arrived on Lampedusa.
The Italian coast guard reported two shipwrecks in the area on Sunday, but it is not clear whether this vessel is one of those. The United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the migrants would have had little chance of survival.
"Sub-Saharan migrants [leaving from Tunisia] are forced to use these low-cost iron boats which break after 20 or 30 hours of navigation. With this kind of sea, these boats capsize easily," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo told AFP.
According to the Interior Ministry in Rome, more than 93,600 migrants have reached Italian shores so far this year, more than twice as many people as in the same period last year.
Most of those who are not intercepted off the North African coast are picked up by Italian patrol ships or charity rescue ships and brought to reception centres.
Source: Qatar Tribune