BELGRADE: Besides rescuing migrants from smugglers’ boats, naval vessels in the Mediterranean are also recovering bodies from past shipwrecks on the bottom of the Mediterranean.

The Italian navy on Monday brought six migrants’ bodies to Sicily that were found near the collapsed wreck of a boat that sank on Aug 5, 2015. When that shipwreck happened, an Irish naval vessel took on 373 survivors and 26 bodies that were immediately recovered.

Palermo-based prosecutors asked the Italian navy to try to locate the sunken wreck and retrieve any more bodies. In December, a navy minesweeper located the wreck on the seabed, 60 metres down. The navy says inspections of the wreck and the surrounding area ascertained the presence of 10 bodies, but, for safety concerns, it was only possible to remove six.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2016