A Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
ship arrived Monday in Palermo port carrying the bodies of four
women and one man who died of dehydration and 529 asylum seekers
that were rescued from unseaworthy vessels off the Libyan coast
on Saturday.
The dead left small children orphaned, MSF doctors said.
The ship named Bourbon Argos carried out two rescue
operations Saturday, rescuing 111 and 107 people respectively.
The five bodies were among the latter group, on a rubber
dinghy.
Fellow passengers told rescuers the five were healthy when
they left Libya but died during the 13 hours they were at sea.
Survivors and MSF carried out a funeral ceremony aboard the
Bourbon Argos for those who died during the crossing.
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