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| Lampedusa migrants: EU chief and Italy PM heckled on visit | Lampedusa migrants: EU chief and Italy PM heckled on visit |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Italy's prime minister and the European Commission president have been heckled on a visit to the island of Lampedusa. | Italy's prime minister and the European Commission president have been heckled on a visit to the island of Lampedusa. |
| Enrico Letta and Jose Manuel Barroso are on the island following one of Italy's worst migrant boat disasters. At least 274 people died when their boat capsized and sank last week. | |
| Residents shouted "disgrace" and "shame" as the men began their visit. | Residents shouted "disgrace" and "shame" as the men began their visit. |
| Lampedusa is a key destination for boats carrying migrants who want to leave Africa and head to Europe. | Lampedusa is a key destination for boats carrying migrants who want to leave Africa and head to Europe. |
| Many residents in Lampedusa have long complained that the authorities in Italy and the European Union have not been doing enough to deal with the thousands of migrants who come ashore each year. | Many residents in Lampedusa have long complained that the authorities in Italy and the European Union have not been doing enough to deal with the thousands of migrants who come ashore each year. |
| A boat carrying 500 migrants - most from Eritrea and Somalia - capsized last Thursday about 1km (half a mile) from Lampedusa. | A boat carrying 500 migrants - most from Eritrea and Somalia - capsized last Thursday about 1km (half a mile) from Lampedusa. |
| There were 155 survivors, and 274 bodies have been found. Divers are still searching for those who remain missing. | |
| Search and patrol | |
| A small group of activists and local residents gathered at the airport as Mr Letta and Mr Barroso arrived in Lampedusa. | |
| They shouted "shame", "disgrace" and "killers" as the men walked from their plane. | |
| "They should be ashamed of themselves. They should solve this humanitarian problem," one protester was quoted by Agence France-Presse news agency as saying. | |
| Mr Barroso and Mr Letta are paying tribute to the victims of the shipwreck and meeting members of the emergency services, as well as refugees from Somalia, Eritrea and Syria. | |
| They are joined by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmstroem, who said on Tuesday she had called for the EU to launch Mediterranean-wide search and rescue patrols to intercept migrant boats. | |
| She said she planned to ask the EU's Frontex border agency to draw up a "concrete proposal" for an operation that would allow better tracking, identification and rescue of migrant boats. | |
| Frontex currently helps Italy to intercept migrant boats, but the two EU operations in the southern Mediterranean have limited resources - a total of four ships, two helicopters and two planes. | |
| The 20m (66ft) boat that sank last Thursday had set off from Libya and was close to Lampedusa when, according to survivors, the engine failed. | |
| In order to attract attention from passing boats, a small fire was lit which caused the passengers to panic and move towards one side of the boat which led to the capsizing, the survivors said. | |
| Divers said they found dozens of bodies entwined together in the hull of the boat which lies about 47m (155ft) below the surface of the sea. |