Italy probes a migrant boat disaster that left 41 feared dead. Four survivors tell a harrowing tale

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Prosecutors in Sicily are investigating the capsizing of a boat that left 41 migrants missing in the Mediterranean Sea. Four passengers survived after finding an empty smugglers’ boat in the waters. The four young migrants, rescued by a passing merchant ship, have told authorities that waves swamped their boat on Aug. 4. After staying afloat for hours by clinging to air tubes, they spotted the empty vessel, struggled to reach it and climbed aboard. The iron-hulled vessel had no engine. State TV, reporting from Lampedusa Island, said the survivors lasted for days thanks to drinking water found in the boat.