Lampedusa Boat Tragedy Thursday Oct 3,2013

The boat caught fire and capsized close to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.

There were 155 survivors of the accident, which happened about 1km (half a mile) offshore

The wreck is lying about 47m (155ft) below the surface, which means the recovery divers can only stay on the bottom for a short time

All the bodies around the ship and on deck have been brought to the surface, police say, however dozens more are thought to remain inside the vessel.

At least 130 African migrants have died and many more are missing after a boat carrying them to Europe sank off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.

A total of 103 bodies have been recovered and more have been found inside the wreck, coast guards say.

Passengers reportedly threw themselves into the sea when a fire broke out on board

The boat was believed to have been carrying up to 500 people, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia on board the 20-metre (66ft) boat at the time and some 200 of them are unaccounted for and 159 had been rescued.

The boat went down a few hundred metres from the shore of the island and divers said they found 40 bodies in and around the sunken boat on the sea bed

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the ship had come from Misrata in Libya and began taking on water when its motor stopped working

The bodies of the victims were lined up at Lampedusa dockside

Migrants frequently land on Lampedusa, just 113 km (70 miles) from the coast of Tunisia, often picked up at sea in dangerously overcrowded boats by the Italian coastguard

 Thirty-eight bodies were freed from the hull, which divers had previously been unable to access. The official death toll now stands at 232

Italy to hold state funeral for shipwreck migrants

Italy is to hold a state funeral for the hundreds of migrants who died after their boat capsized close to the island of Lampedusa

Prime Minister Enrico Letta made the announcement during a visit to the island with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
Of more than 500 people who had been on board the boat, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, only 155 survived

Key migrant routes to southern Europe