Migrants say they were fired on leaving Libya

Published: October 13, 2013 

Italy Migrant Deaths

A survivor cries on the casket of her sister who died when their boat capsized off in the Canal of Sicily before it is embarked on a Italian Navy ship at the Lampedusa island harbor, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013. A fishing boat packed with 500 African migrants capsized on Thursday Oct. 3, 2013 off the shores of the island of Lampedusa, causing more than 300 dead. The enormous scale of the tragedy, which could become the largest death toll in a migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean on record, has created momentum for a comprehensive European Union immigration policy to cope with the tens of thousands fleeing misery and strife in Africa and the Middle East.

MAURO BUCCARELLO — AP Photo

— Migrants who were rescued at sea after a smugglers' boat capsized 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of the Italian island of Lampedusa claim they were shot at when they were leaving the Libyan coast.

A Syrian man, who did not want to be named, told a group of reporters that the boat they were on was chased by another as soon as it left Zwara, Libya, and "shots were fired" toward them. No one was injured.

Migrants said there were 400 people, including 100 children, on the boat — much higher than initial accounts of some 250. So far, 34 bodies have been recovered some 200 survivors, mostly Syrians fleeing civil war, have been brought to Malta and Italy on Saturday. The search was continuing for more bodies.

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