Migrants Tell Harrowing Stories After Surviving Sinking Boat

Published April 21, 2016 at 1:06 PM EDT

Survivors of a deadly shipwreck, Ismam Mowlid of Somalia (L) and Mahmud Muaz of Ethiopia react during a press conference in Athens on April 21, 2016.
The UN refugee agency fears around 500 migrants from Africa had drowned in the Mediterranean, in what could be one of the worst tragedies since the start of the migrant crisis in Europe. The 41 survivors (37 men, three women and a three-year-old child) were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Kalamata, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece on April 16. Those rescued include 23 Somalis, 11 Ethiopians, 6 Egyptians and a Sudanese. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images) — Survivors of a deadly shipwreck, Ismam Mowlid of Somalia (L) and Mahmud Muaz of Ethiopia react during a press conference in Athens on April 21, 2016. The UN refugee agency fears around 500 migrants from Africa had drowned in the Mediterranean, in what could be one of the worst tragedies since the start of the migrant crisis in Europe. The 41 survivors (37 men, three women and a three-year-old child) were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Kalamata, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece on April 16. Those rescued include 23 Somalis, 11 Ethiopians, 6 Egyptians and a Sudanese. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, as many as 500 people may have died on a boat that sank in the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy. NPR’s Joanna Kakissis talks with Here & Now’s Robin Young about what some of the survivors are saying.

Guests

Joanna Kakissis, NPR correspondent in Athens. She tweets @joannakakissis.

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