Badly disfigured bodies of 21 young women and
one man, including Nigerians who died in the
Mediterranean Sea were recovered from rubber
boats on Wednesday.
The search and rescue vessel run in partnership
between Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and
SOS MEDITERRANEE also rescued 209 people
from the dinghies. The rescued include two
pregnant women and 50 children, of whom 45
were travelling without parents or guardians.
The bodies were brought to port of Trapani,
Sicily on Friday, July 2 as fellow migrants
described scenes of panic and violence when
water poured into their dinghy. Some survivors
had bite marks, testimony to a desperate
struggle onboard to escape death.
People on the rubber dinghy said human
traffickers in Libya had pushed too many
migrants aboard and the floor had split after the
boat put to sea, proving a death trap for young
women who had been sitting in the central
section.
"I kept asking for help. Nobody would
help. They were climbing on me to stay
out of the water. I thought I would die,"
a 24-year-old Nigerian woman named
Mary told MSF.
"I had to bite to be able to breathe. The
woman I bit stood up. Men were
standing on top of me. A woman stood
on my face ... A woman who was
pregnant died. We were under the water
together." said Mary.
Nearly 3,000 migrants and refugees have died in
the Mediterranean Sea this year while trying to
reach Europe - three quarters of them en route
from north Africa to Italy, the International
Organization for Migration said on Friday. Just
over 80,000 people, mainly from Africa, have
reached Italy since Jan. 1, more or less in line
with last year's numbers, according to official
figures.
Source: MSF/REUTERS/UNHCR Italia
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