NPR : News

Filed Under:

Dozens Dead, More Feared Lost, After Shipwreck Off Sicily

By: Mark Memmott
October 3, 2013
comments

There's been a sea disaster near Sicily, as The Associated Press reports:

"A ship carrying African migrants to Europe caught fire and capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Thursday, killing at least 94 people as it spilled hundreds of passengers into the sea, officials said. Over 150 people were rescued but some 200 others were still unaccounted-for."

According to the BBC, "there are reports that a fire broke out on board before the boat sank. It was believed to have been carrying about 500 people. The boat had set off from Libya and many of those on board were migrants from Eritrea, according to UNHCR spokesman Laurens Jolles in Rome."

Reuters writes that "the mayor of Lampedusa, Giusy Nicolini, said 82 dead bodies had been recovered, mostly Somalis and Eritreans, and the toll was rising, with the bodies being laid out on the harbor. 'It's horrific, like a cemetery, they are still bringing them out,' she told reporters." The wire service adds that:

"Thousands of desperate migrants from Africa arrive in Italy on unsafe, overcrowded vessels every year, with most coming to Lampedusa, a tiny island just 70 miles from the coast of Tunisia. Numbers have been boosted this year by thousands of refugees from the civil war in Syria, most of whom have arrived on the eastern coast of Sicily from Egypt."

Note: As disasters such as this unfold, news accounts about the number of people killed and injured often vary until authorities have a chance to fully document what happened. We'll update as more information comes in.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Arts & Culture

NPR

George R.R. Martin, Author And ... Movie-Theater Guy?

The author of the wildly successful Game of Thrones books has been spending his days working on reopening an old movie theater in Santa Fe — much to the displeasure of fans who think he should be writing the next book.

Food

NPR

Sandwich Monday: The Limited Edition Candy Corn Oreo

For this week's Sandwich Monday, we try a new take on the classic sandwich cookie: the Limited Edition Candy Corn Oreo.

Politics

NPR

Shutdown Diary, Day 7: The Blame Game

New polling shows that both parties are taking a hit over the shutdown, but Republicans are bearing the brunt of the blame from the American public.

Technology

NPR

Funding For Software To Cloak Web Activity Provokes Concern

A service called Tor makes it possible to communicate and surf the web anonymously. It sounds like a plot by privacy-minded rebels, but in fact the service receives most of its funding from the government and was started by the Pentagon. Despite recent revelations of government email snooping, the U.S. government supports anonymous communication so foreign dissidents can work undetected, and so government agents can pursue bad guys without giving away their identities. But now the service faces new accusations that it might be serving NSA surveillance efforts.

Leave a Comment

Help keep the conversation civil. Please refer to our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct before posting your comments.