At least three Nigerians identified among 24 African migrants who drown off Italy's coast

AT least three young Nigerian including a pregnant mother were among the 24 African migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian coast while trying to reach Europe aboard small Libyan boats.

 

In a terrible disaster, the desperate immigrants searching for a better life in Europe all perished when their boat capsized. However, 6,065 others, including expectant Nigerian women and their families, were rescued by several boats owned by the Italian coastguard and international charities Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Save the Children.

 

Apparently, 417 of the badly burnt survivors, including 92 children and 70 women, were mostly Nigerians and other West Africans. They were passengers on board four small, overcrowded dinghies which broke down about 20 miles off the Libyan coast while attempting to make the two-day journey to the Italy without adequate fuel.

 

About 94 of them barely alive saturated with fuel , skin burnt and falling from their limbs, were rescued by a ship, Dignity 1, operated by MSF. Some of the survivors said that  three hours into their journey from western Libya, they heard a crack as one side of the overcrowded dinghy snapped, throwing 35 people into the sea.

 

They added that two brothers aged four and five, tumbled into the sea and were never found, while others grabbed jerry cans of spare fuel to keep them afloat in the water. Some emptied the cans to make them more buoyant thus spreading the fuel on and around those in the water.

 

A seven months pregnant Nigerian woman, names as Joy, was rescued, coughing and sputtering blood as medical teams tried in vain to save her life, while her semi-conscious sister Lovett lay in the vomit and faeces covering floor beside her. They and the others had inhaled the petrol mixed with sea water and it burnt their skin, throat and lungs.

 

A boy, eight, screamed in agony as the skin on his back peeled off while his fuel-sodden shirt was removed. Other survivors, who could stand were stripped naked and washed down while the semi-conscious were carried into showers or bathed in buckets.

 

More than 130,000 migrants who left North Africa for Europe this year were found in the same condition, while 3,502 perished at sea. They were charged about $500 for a seat on the boat by people smugglers.