The rescue units deployed after the shipwreck off the coast of the southern Italian region of Calabria faced dramatic scenes. “When we arrived at the shipwreck site, we saw corpses floating everywhere. We rescued two men who kept a little boy afloat. Unfortunately, the child was dead,” said Laura De Paoli, a doctor who assists the Coast Guard with sea rescue efforts.
“We rescued the two men. You are the brother and uncle of the lifeless child. We tried to resuscitate the boy, but his lungs were full of water. He was seven years old,” De Paoli reported, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
The doctor, with years of experience in sea rescue, was aboard the Crotone Port Authority patrol boat, which immediately intervened after the shipwreck.
“The sea was rough, difficult to approach. The migrants’ boat was already in ruins on the beach and many bodies were floating around us,” said the doctor, who has already worked with several humanitarian organizations and NGOs on sea rescue operations. “I’ve been to many rescues at sea, but there had been no casualties so far, this time it was devastating,” De Paoli said.
European rescue service required in the Central Mediterranean
The old doctor on the island of Lampedusa and EU parliamentarian Pietro Bartolo called for the creation of a European rescue service in the central Mediterranean. “NGOs and a European rescue service can make the difference between life and death in the Mediterranean,” said Bartolo.
Cause of accident still unclear
59 dead, 80 survivors and dozens missing is the balance of the refugee drama off the coast of Calabria. Of those rescued, 21 have been taken to hospital, one man is in critical condition in hospital. It is still unclear how many people were on board the fishing boat that sank 150 meters from the beach, authorities estimate more than 150 people.
The migrants, who were on the sunken fishing boat, fell into the water 150 meters from shore when the boat likely hit a submerged rock, MSF volunteers said.
According to MSF, there were 177 people on board the boat. The survivors are almost exclusively Afghans. “All survivors are desperate, everyone has lost a loved one,” MSF volunteers said.
Source: Krone
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