Boat carrying illegal immigrants from Africa to Italy was packed with corpses

[link to www.bbc.co.uk]

More than 66,000 migrants and refugees have arrived on Italy's shores this year. But many don't survive the journey - and when the Italian navy went to help migrants crammed on to a boat near Sicily, they were shocked by what they found.

The first images were tranquil enough. A fishing boat sat on a bay in Sicily in the summer sunshine.

As gusts of wind ruffled the water around her, she swung a little on her mooring.

There was nothing in that television picture to suggest that there was anything wrong.

But down in her blue hull, the boat carried a dreadful cargo. A hold packed with bodies. A great tangle of corpses.

As the camera pulled back you saw figures gathering on the quay, police and forensic experts, all dressed in white overalls, and with masks over their faces.

When the fishing boat came alongside, they would go to work.

The first time we'd seen that blue hull it appeared in footage shot far out at sea by the Italian navy.

The boat was loaded with migrants making the journey from North Africa, desperate to reach Italy and all the promise of Europe.

Around 600 passengers covered every inch of the deck. And they sat all around the sides of the boat, crammed tight, shoulders pressed against shoulders.

As the vessel rose and fell in the swell, a navy boarding party went in to investigate. And the sailors discovered that just beneath the feet of that mass of passengers, there were many dead.

Dozens had suffocated in a hold below deck.

There were so many bodies in such a small space that out at sea they couldn't even be counted, never mind unloaded. They were left aboard, and the boat was towed into the Sicilian port of Pozzallo.

Eventually 45 corpses were brought out onto the quayside...50% rule