Italian police have arrested the Capitan and the crew of the sunken ship who were involved in illegal human trafficking which resulted in the drowning of at least 800 migrants in the Mediterranean’s worst migrant disaster yet.
They said the men were among only a couple of dozens survivors that could reach the shore. A Tunisian man and a Syrian were taken from a group of 27 haggard survivors who arrived in the Sicilian port of Catania on Monday evening. Both face charges of people trafficking.
Under-fire EU ministers meanwhile agreed on a 10-point plan to double the resources available to the current EU border surveillance mission Triton, as the UN’s refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration recounted what those onboard had witnessed.
“We can say that 800 are dead,” said Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy on Tuesday, citing the survivors’ accounts of the deadly crossing.
Those who escaped with their lives described to officials the moment the 20-metre (70-foot) trawler carrying them capsized after a Portuguese merchant ship approached the vessel, causing a stampede.
“There were a little over 800 people on board, including children aged between 10 and 12. There were Syrians, about 150 Eritreans, Somalians… They had left Tripoli at about 8 am on Saturday,” Sami said.

 Greek coast guards help a woman rescued after a boat carrying migrants sank off the Greek island of Rhodes on April 20, 2015

The survivors hailed from Mali, Gambia, Senegal, Somalia, Eritrea and Bangladesh, she added, and all had been taken to nearby holding centres.
One other survivor was taken to hospital in Catania, on Sicily’s east coast.
EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini had unveiled plans earlier Monday to tackle the growing migrant crisis after telling member states they had “no more excuses” not to act.
Even as EU foreign and interior ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss ways to stem the flood of people trying to reach Europe, the International Organization for Migration said it had received a distress call from another boat — but cautioned against concluding this was another disaster in the making.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said separately that Italy’s coast guard had asked merchant shipping to come to the aid of two boats off the Libyan coast with up to 450 migrants on board after they sought help.
More than 11,000 migrants have been rescued by Italian authorities since the middle of last week alone and current trends suggest last year’s total of 170,000 landing in Italy is likely to be exceeded in 2015.
Unveiling the 10-point action plan, Mogherini said the EU had to live up to its humanitarian values and commitments towards migrants, she said, adding: “To send them back is another way of killing them.”
The deadliest incident prior to Sunday occurred off Malta in September 2014, when an estimated 500 migrants drowned after traffickers deliberately rammed their boat in an attempt to force the passengers onto a smaller vessel.
Published: 21 April 2015.