Badly
disfigured bodies of 21 young women and one man, including Nigerians who died
in the Mediterranean Sea were recovered from rubber boats on Wednesday.
The search and rescue vessel run in partnership between Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) and SOS MEDITERRANEE also rescued 209 people from the
dinghies. The rescued include two pregnant women and 50 children, of whom 45
were travelling without parents or guardians.
The bodies were brought to port of Trapani, Sicily on Friday,
July 2 as fellow migrants described scenes of panic and violence when water
poured into their dinghy. Some survivors had bite marks, testimony to a
desperate struggle onboard to escape death.
People
on the rubber dinghy said human traffickers in Libya had pushed too many
migrants aboard and the floor had split after the boat put to sea, proving a
death trap for young women who had been sitting in the central section.
"I
kept asking for help. Nobody would help. They were climbing on me to stay out
of the water. I thought i would die," a 24-year-old Nigerian woman named
Mary told MSF.
"I
had to bite to be able to breathe. The woman i bit stood up. Men were standing
on top of me. A woman stood on my face ... A woman who was pregnant died. We
were under the water together." said Mary.
Erna
Rijnierse, an MSF doctor who was aboard the rescue ship, the MV Aquarius, said
there was an eerie silence when they neared the dinghy and it was obvious there
had been a struggle.
"You
can tell it from the nail scratches on people's arms and legs, but also we had
10 people with human bites on arms, a back and also on the lower back and
ankles," she said.
Mary
told MSF she had been held in prison in Libya - immigrants are often arrested
there - for two months before finding a place on the dinghy. Rijnierse said she
believed many of the victims had been detained prior to the trip and were too
weak to fight their way off the floor.
"They
rape there. They are looking for young girls, you cannot say no, they have
guns, shout, speak in their language," Mary said, describing her ordeal in
the prison before she managed to escape and meet up with her husband.
Another
Nigerian survivor, a 30-year-old man called David, urged would-be migrants not
to make the journey.
"Taking
the boat is very dangerous. That is the truth," he said, adding: "I
feel bad about the women who died. It wasn't supposed to happen." he said.
Nearly
3,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year while
trying to reach Europe - three quarters of them en route from north Africa to
Italy, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday. Just over
80,000 people, mainly from Africa, have reached Italy since Jan. 1, more or
less in line with last year's numbers, according to official figures.
Source: MSF/REUTERS/UNHCR Italia
Labels: Nigerian survivors describe harrowing journey, Photos of Coffins waiting in Italy port for bodies of migrants
