27 May,2016 02:40 PM IST | | Agencies
An Italian navy captain who led the rescue operation for the refugee boat that capsized off Libya on Wednesday said his crew threw themselves into the Mediterranean to save the refugees.
The shipwreck of migrant boat off Libyan coast on Wednesday. Pics/AFP
Rome: An Italian navy captain who led the rescue operation for the refugee boat that capsized off Libya on Wednesday said his crew threw themselves into the Mediterranean to save the refugees.
The shipwreck of migrant boat off Libyan coast on Wednesday. Pics/AFP
Francesco Iavazzo, the skipper of the Bettica patrol boat, said they survivors were brought back from the jaws of death amidst the drama. "At sea, the saving of human lives is something sacred.
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Meanwhile, another boat trafficking people to Europe has capsized off the Libyan coast, according to the Italian coastguard, the second major deadly incident in two days.
Iavazzo's crew also managed to surprise their captain in such trying times after his boat had pulled 562 people out of the water, including 43 children, 10 of whom were babies. "In this tragedy the one small consolation is that we saved all the children," he said. "And they all got toy bears that my sailors produced from goodness knows where. I saw a baby girl clutching a white one that was bigger than her."
