Survivor of the shipwreck in Libya, so I saved myself

"Let my family know that I'm alive, that I managed to save myself. I made it, while many of my other travel companions drowned before my eyes...".

Siful, 33, the eldest of three brothers, comes from Bangladesh.

He is one of the 17 survivors of the shipwreck that took place yesterday off the Libyan coast.

The umpteenth tragedy of the sea "announced" by a report from Alarm Phone and which is triggering new controversies after the tragedy of Cutro.

Siful landed this evening in Pozzallo, after being rescued by the merchant ship "Froland".

He has a fracture in his right leg which he sustained in an attempt to climb onto the boat which had overturned and for this reason he was transferred to the "Maggiore-Baglieri" hospital in Modica.

He still trembles at the memory and keeps his eyes down as he continues to tell.

Pain and horror entrusts them to paper, handwriting his name, drawing the scenes of the shipwreck and reconstructing what happened.

"There were 47 of us, all men, on an old 8-metre boat that couldn't accommodate everyone," he says, barely holding back his tears and confirming that thirty are still missing.

    "After a few hours that we moved away from the Libyan coast - he continues - the sea was increasingly rough. Some wanted to go back. We were crowded together, it was very cold and the waves made me nauseous. The cold was unbearable When the smugglers let us on, they said there would be water and food on board, but that wasn't true".

    At one point the boat capsizes due to the fury of the sea: "Everyone was screaming and asking for help, I clung to the wreck with the strength of desperation, but many didn't know how to swim and I saw them disappear in the waves. We were trying

    to encourage us, someone will come to rescue us, we raised the alarm by telephone. Then the ship arrived".

    But Siful also reveals that the trip had been planned for some time: "From Bangladesh I reached Libya in a few days, for the price of a thousand dollars, collected over years of work and paid to the trafficker. In my country I was a carpenter for a living, but I have always dreamed of arriving in Italy. Now I only hope to be able to embrace my family again".