Rome: Hopes faded of finding survivors today from the sinking of a boat in which an estimated 200 migrants were feared drowned, as rescue ships were called to the aid of more migrant boats in the same area of the Mediterranean.
"We are witnessing a genocide caused by European selfishness," said Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando as the Irish navy ship LE Niamh docked in the port carrying some 370 survivors of yesterday's disaster and 25 corpses, including several children.
Orlando, speaking on Italian television as hearses arrived to take the bodies away, called on European leaders to do more to prevent such tragedies and to allow more refugees fleeing wars to re-settle in their countries.
Vessels from the Italian and Irish navies and humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) saved about 400 people from a capsized boat thought to be carrying up to 600 yesterday.
They found no more survivors after scouring the waters overnight. Italian vessels continued to search the area today, a coastguard spokesman said.
Initial reports put about 700 passengers on the overcrowded fishing boat but interviews with survivors - mostly Syrians fleeing their country's civil war - reduced that estimate and the figure could still change.
"We are witnessing a genocide caused by European selfishness," said Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando as the Irish navy ship LE Niamh docked in the port carrying some 370 survivors of yesterday's disaster and 25 corpses, including several children.
Orlando, speaking on Italian television as hearses arrived to take the bodies away, called on European leaders to do more to prevent such tragedies and to allow more refugees fleeing wars to re-settle in their countries.
They found no more survivors after scouring the waters overnight. Italian vessels continued to search the area today, a coastguard spokesman said.
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