Tunisia: Survivors told yesterday how they used their bare hands and bundles of clothes to try desperately to stop water pouring into a boat which capsized carrying around 250 African migrants bound for Italy.
Some 12 bodies were hauled from the water shortly after the boat sank in heavy weather off the coast of Tunisia in the early hours of Friday.
Around 200 migrants from poor or war-torn African countries are still missing, and officials say there is little hope any will be found alive.
"Cracks appeared on the boat as it was sailing, and the water began seeping through it. We struggled to fill the cracks with bare hands or using clothes, but later the water surged and we were unable to contain it," said Abdeljalil, a 24-year-old Moroccan in the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax, where 41 survivors were brought by Tunisian authorities before deportation.
He was among some 250 people from countries including Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Somalia and Liberia thought to have been aboard the boat, one of a stream that regularly seek to make the crossing to nearby Italy.
The rickety ships filled with illegal immigrants have been arriving on Italy's southern shores almost daily in past weeks.
"Many of us paid up to $2,000 for the boat trip in the hope to reach Italy and then further to Europe to find a job," said a 28-year-old Somali, who gave his name as Ahmed.
Some of the survivors swam for more than five hours to make it to Sfax while others were picked up by fishing boats or navy ships, officials said.
The officials said Tunisian navy ships were scouring the Mediterranean waters for the third day for survivors or, more likely, bodies.
Another official had said the water where the boat sank was more than 300 metres deep.
The survivors said the wrecked boat sailed from Libya, where Col Muammar Gadafy had warned European Union leaders that rich states would be swamped by waves of illegal immigration unless they stepped up co-operation with Africa to increase investments and job opportunities.
Tunisian officials said the capsized boat was part of a "wave" of several boats spotted off Tunisia's coast sailing to Italy in recent days. They said the boats were from a neighbouring country, but declined to name it. Diplomats said the boats came from Libya.