The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Praise for sailors’ swift action as damatic photographs show overloaded boat turning over as naval vessel approaches More than 500 people narrowly escaped drowning on Wednesday after their smugglers’ boat capsized in the southern Mediterranean, a series of dramatic photographs have revealed. As Italian naval ships approached to rescue the stricken asylum-seekers, their boat – a repurposed trawler – tipped over, throwing those on deck into the water. At least five people drowned when the boat capsized “due to overcrowding and instability caused by the high number of people on board”, the Italian navy said in a statement. But the sailors managed to save about 550 lives, in a mission that migration experts described as miraculous. [Read more].

• Patrick Kingsley, Italian navy saves 550 refugees as smugglers’ trawler capsizes in Med, The Guardian, May 25, 2016

Italian navy ships rescue people from the overturned boat
Photo: Reuters