CATANIA, Sicily — The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that it believes more than 800 people drowned when a boat packed with migrants trying to reach Europe sank Saturday, making it the worst such sinking ever in the Mediterranean.
New details of the tragedy were emerging as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other aid agencies interviewed the handful of survivors who arrived overnight in Catania, Sicily.
Survivors put the number of passengers on board the three-deck fishing trawler at 850, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Adrian Edwards in Geneva. Only 24 bodies were recovered, in addition to the 28 survivors.
"From available information and the various accounts we've had UNHCR now believes the number of fatalities to have been over 800 making this the deadliest incident in the Mediterranean that we recorded," Edwards told reporters in Geneva.
The International Organization for Migration said the 2015 rate of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean is much higher than last year, when a total of 3,279 migrants died. That was much higher than in 2013, when about 700 died, IOM said.
So far this year, 1,776 have died, according to the U.N. refugee agency, which also estimates that 219,000 people made the crossing last year.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
