Survivors from Friday’s shipwreck off Lampedusa claimed they came under fire as they left the Libyan coast.

“I don’t think it was the coastguard. Maybe they were militia men... they were civilians and they were shooting to kill,” a 35-year-old Palestinian, who did not wish to be named, told The Sunday Times of Malta yesterday.

His version of events was corroborated by others who said they had been targeted by individuals on board another boat shortly after they left the coastal town of Zuwara – known as a hub for people smuggling even before the 2011 revolution.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, also referred to these claims in a statement issued yesterday, in which he also expressed shock at the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean.

An estimated 50 people, including many children, drowned in the incident after the nine-metre fishing boat they were on, capsized some 120 miles south west of Malta on Friday.

The Armed Forces, whose aircraft was first on the site, managed to rescue 143 migrants, while the Italian Navy took another 56.

Most of the deceased were taken to Lampedusa, while the AFM brought to Malta five bodies – a woman and four children, one of them recovered during continued searches yesterday morning.

Contrary to sub-Saharan Africans who normally flee Libya, Friday’s incident involved mainly Syrians and Palestinians.

The boat left Zuwara on Thursday at midnight and travelled relatively well until Friday at about noon, according to 38-year-old Syrian Emd Hassan, an English Literature graduate from Damascus University.

‘I saw the body of a baby float past’

The weather became rough at that point and the vessel started taking in water. A distress call was made to the Red Cross in Rome but it took hours for the response to be coordinated.

Then, at around 4pm, the vessel capsized, offloading some 250 people into the rough seas, including dozens of children.

“It was terrible. I had three children with me and for some time I couldn’t see them, even though they were right beside me,” Mr Hassan said.

He was one of the lucky ones. A Syrian couple who preferred not to be interviewed lost track of their three children and were still uncertain yesterday evening whether they had been rescued by the Italian navy vessels or had drowned.

Another man, a Palestinian, said he saw the body of months-old baby float by as he was in the water.

“I cannot swim properly so I tried as best as I could to float with my face facing the sky... I could not see anything to my left or my right, but I saw this baby,” he said.

The majority of those rescued were Syrian but there was also a group of 27 Palestinians, a Lebanese and a Tunisian.

It was terrible. I had three children with me and for some time I could not see them

Mr Hassan said he paid $1,000 for the boat trip from Zuwara but pointed out that refugees who paid the fare from Egypt could have paid as much as $3,000 to $4,000.

Asked why someone in his position would risk his life in this way rather than catch a flight, Mr Hassan said he had no travel documents and therefore had no alternative, given there was no way he could be issued the necessary paperwork due to the conflict in his country.

“This was my only alternative. Also, the situation in Libya is not good at all,” he said.

Major Russell Caruana, the captain of the Maltese patrol boat first to reach the scene, described the rescue as one of the toughest he had experienced in his career at sea.

“I have been doing this sort of work for 10 years but this was one of the most difficult operations for me personally... there were a large number of people who were floating motionless,” he said, as his crew disembarked 143 survivors at Hay Wharf in the morning.

“It was very tough, partly because of the great distance we were operating from (120 miles) and the rough weather, but also because there were so many people in the sea.

“We have carried out many operations of this sort but this situation was more dramatic than normal,” he said.

The latest tragedy, which comes a week after some 350 people lost their life in a shipwreck off Lampedusa, became the focal point for news agencies across Europe.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told the BBC that Malta felt “abandoned by Europe” on this issue.

“I don’t know how many more people need to die at sea before something gets done. Both Malta and Italy will make sure that our voice is heard at the next European Council discussing this issue... this thing (the immigration system) is broken and it needs to be fixed,” he said.

The UN Refugee Commissioner added his voice to the call for a comprehensive policy that deals with the phenomenon effectively, and suggested a 10-point action plan, detailed below on page 4.

“This is the third boat tragedy in the Mediterranean in just two weeks,” Mr Guterres said. “It is shameful to witness hundreds of unwitting migrants and refugees drowning on Europe’s borders.”

He expressed particular concern that Syrians, fleeing a “frightening conflict”, were resorting to this dangerous route and drowning as they were seeking a safe haven in Europe.

“There is something fundamentally inhumane in a world where which Syrians are forced to risk their lives in the hands of ruthless smugglers in attempt to reach safety in Europe.

“They escaped bullets and bombs only to perish before they could ever claim asylum,” he said.

The UNHCR’s 10-point action plan

• A strengthened search and rescue capacity for rescue in the Mediterranean to identify boats in distress, in particular those carrying refugees and migrants.

• Shipmasters undertaking search and rescue operations should not be accused of facilitating the smuggling of the people rescued or confronted with criminal charges.

• The establishment of effective and predictable mechanisms for identifying places of safety for the disembarkation of rescued refugees and migrants.

• The enhancement of reception facilities in Malta and Lampedusa and establishment of additional facilities with access to assistance and care.

• The establishment of profiling and referral mechanisms, including access to fair and efficient asylum procedures for those in need of international protection, based on the understanding that disembarkation does not necessarily imply sole responsibility for processing and solutions by the State on whose territory pwople rescued at sea are disembarked.

• People found in need of international protection should be given access to a durable solution, which could include mechanisms for an equitable distribution/relocation of those recognised as refugees or beneficiaries of subsidiary protection within the EU or evacuation to a designated Evacuation Transit Centre based on existing models from where resettlement efforts could be undertaken both to European countries and non-European countries.

• The gathering, analysis and sharing of data on movements by sea in the Mediterranean region, aimed at increasing knowledge of routes, motives and profiles of arrivals as a basis for building shared assessments and responses.

• Further development of capacity and institution building of countries of transit including coordination efforts to identify and prosecute people involved in smuggling and trafficking.

• Reinforcement of protection strategies in countries of first asylum crossed by people embarking on boats. These can include support to local integration through formal education, vocational training and livelihood support. It should also include enhanced resettlement efforts, facilitated access to family reunion options and other protection entry mechanisms.

• Increased mass information programmes on local media and along the transit routes, including points of entry, aimed at informing all potential population of risks of onward movements.