Dozens starve to death on boat
Pastor Dale Morgan
Dozens starve to death on boat*
From correspondents in Tunis, Tunisia
May 13, 2008 01:48am
Article from: Reuters
FORTY-SEVEN illegal migrants have died of starvation and cold after the
engine of the rickety boat transporting them from Libya to Italy broke
down, a Tunisian newspaper has reported.
Sixteeen other migrants, who survived the tragedy, dumped the 47 bodies
in the Mediterranean sea in a bid to prevent the boat from sinking, the
weekly Assabah el Ousboue said today, quoting security officials who had
been briefed by survivors.
The wind pushed the damaged boat towards Tunisia's shore where
coastguard members rescued the 16 would-be migrants, it added.
The migrants left the coastal Libyan city of Zawara last week.
Three corpses, believed to be those of the dead migrants, washed up near
the coast village of Bekalta, some 250km southeast of Tunis, the
newspaper said.
Tunis government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Last year, nearly 20,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat from North
Africa.
At least 471 were reported dead or missing after hazardous journeys,
according to the United Nations and migrant defence groups.