Malta boat disaster "cannot be described," Syrian refugee says

  • 11 years ago
With faces buried in hands and eyes full of pain, survivors of Italy's latest migrant disaster are trying to make sense of their tragedy.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED SYRIAN MAN, SAYING:

"The situation was very horrible. It cannot be described."

This man and his family, who are Syrian refugees, are among the 206 survivors sheltered at Malta's Valletta Hospital.

Their boat sank early Friday south of Sicily after leaving Libya.

Italian and Maltese navy ships have recovered 34 bodies from the waters.

The Syrian man said living as a refugee in Libya forced him and his family to leave.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED SYRIAN MAN, SAYING:

"Because the society is different from the Syrian's and the treatment for the Syrians began to be changed to the worse."

The disaster came just over a week after more than 300 migrants drowned when their boat sank off the coast of Lampedusa, a tiny island between Sicily and Tunisia.

The re

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