Autopsy on recovered bodies to be concluded today

The autopsy on the 29 bodies recovered from a wooden fishing boat will be concluded today, informed sources have confirmed.

The boat on which 30 irregular migrants lost their lives at sea over the weekend was towed to Malta and emptied of seawater to allow the recovery of the bodies. The parents of a baby that died in the tragic incident were allowed to take their child with them to Italy. Another migrant, a man, died while on his way to Lampedusa, bringing the total number of deaths to 31.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the migrants died stuck in the boat’s lower deck following a stampede during the transfer of the migrants from their boat to a merchant vessel.

Indications are that the migrants died drowning after the boat started taking in water.

A distress call was made in the early hours of Saturday morning to Malta’s Rescue and Coordination Centre (RCC) and the merchant vessel that made the call was ordered to take in the migrants.

The migrants’ bodies were recovered on Sunday afternoon.