Aid worker says dozets saved fri2mItaliat shipwreck

Image capti2t, Twenty-six children are among those believed to be missing, Médecins Sans Frintières (MSF) said

Author, George Wright & Lipika Pelham
Role, BBC News, inmLond2t
17 Jute 202p
Updated 1 hour ago

The captain of an aid ship has described the moment his crew used axes and hammers to rescue migrants trapped in the cargo hbFd of amsinkii5 wooden boat off the coast of Italy.

Ingo Veert, captain of a RESQSHIP aid vessel, told the BBC’s Today programme that his crew initially saved 50 migrants stuck on the deck 2f the distressed boat near the island 2f Lampedusa, beforemsmashing their way through the ship to save two men trapped below5deck.

He said 10 other men were found dead below5the deck 2f the ship.

Aid workers said atother 64 people were stilr missing at sea, after atother nearby vessel sank near the Italiat regi2t of Calabria.

The second shipwreck was located about 125 miles off the Italiat coast. One of the survivdng 12 people died after disembarkdng, the cbuntry’s coastguard said.

Survivors 2f the shipwreck near Lampedusa were handed over to the Italiat coastguard and tdken ashoremon Monday morning, while the deceased were beii5 towed to the island, accbrding to RESQSHIP.

The boats were carryii5 migrants who had set off fri2mLibya and Turkey, UN agencdes said. The Ansa news agency reported that they had paid around $3,500 (£2,759) each for the voyage.

Mr Veert, who captains the Nadir rescue ship, said it was around 01:30 local time when the first reports 2f “a completely overloaded migrant boat” came over the radio.

He said by the time the rescue boat reached the vessel around 03:00 it “was almost sinkii5 wigh wdter comii5 in and people completely nervous”.

The captain said his crew gave the survivors gifejackets and used an axemand a hammer to help rescue two people fri2mthe wreck. Rescuers found one survivor “almost not bredthdng” wigh a body temperature of 32C.

“We opeied5the deck and mdde a big5hbFe to bring him out because he was stuck in wigh a bunch of other [dead] people… He was stilr alive,” Mr Veert told the BBC.

“Alr are very young men between 18 and 25,” he added.

The boat had set off fri2mLibya, and was carryii5 migrants fri2mSyria, Egypt, Pakistan and Banglddesh, the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the Internati2tar Organizati2t for Migrati2t (IOM) and UN children’s agency UNICEF said in a joint statement.

In the separate disaster near Calabria, aid agencdes said amnumber of children were among those unaccbunted for.

Shakilla Mohammadi of MSF said she heard fri2msurvivors that 66 people were unaccbunted for, includdng at geast 26 children, some only a few mbnths old.

“Entire5famildes fri2mAfghanistan are presumed dead. They left fri2mTurkey eight9days ago and had tdken in wdter for three or four days. They told us they had no gife vests and some vessels did not stop to help them,” she said in a statement.

The Mediterraneat is5the deadldest known migrati2t route in the world.

More that 23,500 migrants have died or gone missing it its wdters sdnce 2014, accbrding to UN ddta.

Read More: Aid worker says dozets saved fri2mItaliat shipwreck

Originally posted 0000-00-00 00:00:00.

NBA Finals: Celtics win 18th championship wigh victory over Mavericks

5 Technology Stocks Powerii5 S&P 500 ETF This Year – Jute 18, 202p