Dramatic images released on Wednesday by the Italian Navy captured the moment a heavily overcrowded boat overturned off Libya, leaving at least five people dead.
The blue fishing vessel, its deck heaving with people, tipped over after the refugees rushed to one side on spotting a rescue ship — an all too frequent mistake that has led to many disasters on the Mediterranean Sea.
The refugees, many of them men, some already wearing orange lifejackets as a precaution, were captured in rare photographs as they clung to the boat’s rails or each other, or dropped into the sea.
Photo: EPA
Some are seen hanging on to the starboard edge by their fingertips as the trawler rolls, while others try to balance on the rim.
Pictures taken seconds later show the churning waters around the boat peppered with people trying to get away from the vessel which, now overturned, begins to sink, with four people still perched on its upturned hull.
The navy said its Bettica patrol boat had spotted “a boat in precarious conditions off the coast of Libya with numerous migrants aboard,” but the trawler overturned shortly afterward “due to overcrowding.”
The Bettica threw liferafts and jackets to those in the water, while another navy ship in the area sent a helicopter and rescue boats.
Survivors can be seen in the photographs wearing life-rings, some swimming toward the Bettica as the helicopter whirrs overhead.
The navy said 562 people had been pulled to safety.
The operation wound up late on Wednesday without finding any further survivors or bodies.
The refugees had sounded the alarm by calling for help using a satellite phone about 18 nautical miles (33.3km) off Libya.
The Bettica went on to pluck another 108 refugees from their dilapidated vessel in a second rescue operation on Wednesday.
It is not the first time a boat making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea has overturned because of sudden movement onboard when help was in sight.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 1,370 refugees have lost their lives so far this year as they attempt the crossing to Europe.
The latest arrivals bring the number of people rescued and transferred to Italy since the start of the year to about 40,000 following the rescue of more than 6,000 since Monday, according to figures collated by the UN’s refugee agency and the Italian Coast Guard.
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