As many as 30 people were trampled or drowned after a recent shipwreck involving refugees off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean.
In interviews carried out on Tuesday in Pozzallo, Italy, rescued refugees said that between 20 and 30 were either drowned or were trampled during the panic that followed the shipwreck last week.
They said their rubber boat lost its motor and took on water hours after leaving Libya, adding that a small child was among the fatalities.
Officials have only recovered two of the bodies from the incident. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that more than 50 bodies have been brought to Italy over the past few days, warning that the toll could rise as dozens more are feared dead from several shipwrecks involving refugees.
Refugees rescued from another rubber boat also told the UNHCR that 82 were feared dead after their boat deflated last Wednesday.
Rescuers retrieved 33 bodies on the same day from a wooden boat that nearly capsized and dumped some 200 into the water. Those dead included 13 women and seven children.
The UNHCR has updated the toll from refugee journeys in the central Mediterranean, saying that 1,700 people have died or are feared missing since the start of 2017. Italy has recorded about 60,000 arrivals this year, nearly a third higher than figures recorded in the same period last year.
The surge in arrivals in Italy comes amid increasing chaos in Libya, where rival militants vie for higher share of the country’s oil income. A deal in March last year between the European Union and Turkey stopped the flow of refugees from eastern Mediterranean, forcing thousands to take the route from Libya to the north.
