State Funeral For Italy Migrants

Italy is to hold a state funeral for the hundreds of migrants who died after their boat capsized close to the island of Lampedusa last Thursday.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta made the announcement during a visit to the island with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mr Barroso pledged 30m euros ($40m; £25m) of EU funds to help refugees in Italy.

Divers have recovered 302 bodies from the wreck.

Of more than 500 people who had been on board the boat, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, only 155 survived.

On Wednesday afternoon, the bodies of two women and two men were brought to the surface.

The sinking is one of Italy’s worst disasters involving a boat carrying Europe-bound migrants from Africa.

Lampedusa is a key destination for such boats and many residents have long complained that the authorities in Italy and the European Union are not doing enough to deal with the thousands of migrants who come ashore each year.

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