Survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Libya in which some 200 migrants were feared drowned were being brought to safety in Sicily today, as tales emerged of the 'horrific' moment the boat overturned.
Their fishing boat, believed to have been carrying more than 600 people, ran into difficulty about 15 nautical miles off Libya yesterday and overturned when rescuers neared, after frantic migrants rushed to one side in their desperation to be saved.
Irish patrol vessel Niamh, first on the scene of the disaster, was headed to Palermo with 367 survivors, including 12 women and 13 children, as well as 25 bodies recovered from the sea.
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The Italian coastguard told AFP the search for remaining survivors "continued throughout the night and will be carried out all day today".
Six migrants in need of urgent medical attention, including a feverish one-year-old baby and a man with a broken leg, were transported by helicopter to the Italian island of Lampedusa late yesterday, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
It is not the first time a boat making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean has overturned because of sudden movement onboard when help is in sight.
Many migrants cannot swim, making it a race against time for rescue workers trying to pull them from the water.
"It was a horrific sight, people desperately clinging to lifebelts, boats and anything they could, fighting for their lives, amidst people drowning, and those who had already died," said Juan Matias, a project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The MSF boat Dignity One was the second vessel on the scene and helped rescue panicking children and adults from the water. It was delayed, however, by being diverted en route to help another boat in trouble with 94 people aboard.
