„[…] As many as 400 people were on board the boat that sank on Friday ¹, many of them reportedly fleeing the conflict in Syria.

The man who spoke to the BBC said he was originally from a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital, Damascus. He did not want to be identified but gave his name as Abde.He suggested that it was the Libyan coast guard that had fired at the boat, though other accounts suggested that rival trafficking gangs or Libyan militiamen may have been to blame.Map of the Mediterranean“When we got out in the international waters, they came after us and shot some fires in the air and we kept moving,“ said Abde.“When we got inside the Italian waters, they lost hope and started shooting us with live rounds.“They shot two of the skippers. Some of the women got shot. The last thing they shot the engine room in the bottom of the boat and that’s when the water started to get inside the ship.“Those on the boat raised the alarm with the Red Cross, but had to wait for up to an hour-and-a-half before being rescued, he said. […]“

via BBC News – Migrant boat ’shot at‘ as it left Libya