LAMPEDUSA, Italy: Italian authorities on Friday were trying to identify the bodies of 27 people who died when two crowded boats sank off the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa.
One wooden coffin, marked with an “X,” could be seen at the local cemetery, where the bodies of some of the victims were being held, an AFP journalist said.
Broadcaster Rai reported that some of the coffins would be transported to Sicily for burial in several cemeteries there.
Lampedusa, just 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the coast of Tunisia, is often the first point of arrival for people trying to reach Europe in fragile or overcrowded boats.
Its reception center is currently home to 317 people, including about 70 mostly unaccompanied minors, said Giovanna Stabile of the Italian Red Cross, which runs the facility.
Most of them come from Egypt, Somalia and Bangladesh, she added.
Of the 60 survivors of Wednesday’s capsizing disaster, 58 were at the center. The two others were airlifted by helicopter to Sicily for treatment, she said.
“Last night, the procedures for identifying the bodies began,” said Stabile.
“This was a delicate moment, which was supported by the psychologist, the linguistic-cultural mediator and the multidisciplinary team,” she said.
“People reacted to the identification in a very composed manner.”
For some, however, it was too much.
One Somali teenager, in tears, identified a girl, his cousin, among the dead. “It can’t be! It can’t be!” he kept repeating, ANSA news agency reported.
The 27 victims, including three minors, died when two crowded boats heading from Libya capsized about 20 kilometers off Lampedusa.
The UN refugee agency said the boats were carrying at least 95 people. Italian news agency ANSA said 100 to 110 people may have been on board, meaning up to 23 could still be unaccounted for.
On Thursday, the Italian coast guard published a video of the rescue operation, showing young men desperately trying to cling to a floating rescue cylinder in the water.
The somber scene at the reception center was in stark contrast to elsewhere on the island, as throngs of tourists enjoyed Friday’s Ferragosto public holiday.
At the port, where dozens of migrants were still arriving by boat at the port, pleasure craft were bringing back tourists from sea trips to the sound of festive music.
At the cemetery, women came to pray and leave flowers for those who lost their lives, while a vigil in memory of the dead was held at a local Catholic shrine.
“Migrants continue to arrive... our arms are always open but when these deaths occur, it hurts us deeply,” one local woman, who gave her name only as Angela, told AFP.