Italian navy saves 550 refugees as smugglers' trawler capsizes in Med

Praise for sailors’ swift action as damatic photographs show overloaded
boat turning over as naval vessel approaches

Patrick Kingsley Migration correspondent
Wednesday 25 May 2016 18.42 BST

More than 500 people narrowly escaped drowning on Wednesday after their smugglers’ boat capsized in the southern Mediterranean, a series of dramatic photographs have revealed.

As Italian naval ships approached to rescue the stricken asylum-seekers, their boat – a repurposed trawler – tipped over, throwing those on deck into the water.

At least five people drowned when the boat capsized “due to overcrowding and instability caused by the high number of people on board”, the Italian navy said in a statement.

But the sailors managed to save about 550 lives, in a mission that migration experts described as miraculous.

Boats of this size are usually crammed with around 600 people, which suggests that the majority of those stuck below decks were largely saved.

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