The terrifying story of a shipwreck in the Mediterranean: "They sank one by one under my eyes"

"They went down one by one under my eyes"Ahmed Bilal, a Bangladeshi farmer rescued from the sinking of a migrant boat between Libya and Italy, in which about sixty people have died, continues unabated.

After six months of traveling, Ahmed, 30, is exhausted. He spent three months in Libya and eight hours in the icy waters of the Mediterranean Sea. until a Tunisian fishing boat saw the wreck Friday, more than 60 kilometers from the coast of Sfax.

But for his cousin and brother-in-law, aged 22 and 26, it's already too late.

"I can not stop crying"said Ahmed AFP in an emergency shelter of the Red Crescent in Zarzis, in the south-east of Tunisia, where are housed the 16 survivors of Friday night.

Originally from the Sylhet region of northeastern Bangladesh, Ahmed, father of two, he recounts that he left his country six months ago with four other men from his village.

"My family sold our land, where we grew rice once a year. They wanted to have a better life than other families who have one of their own in Europe."he explains.

A Bangladeshi intermediary promised them an easier life by proposing to go to Europe for about $ 7,000.

"People call him" Good luck. "He said we would have a better life and we believed him," he laments.

"I'm sure most people you send are dying along the way […] I only knew him [de hablarle] by phone but I met his brother in Libya"he adds.

Ahmed and his people They flew to Dhaka to go to Dubai. From there, they went to Istanbul and finally to Tripoli. They met a group of 80 Bangladeshis, locked up for three months in a room in western Libya.

"I thought I was going to die in Libya, We ate only once a day, sometimes less, there was a bathroom for everyone and we could only brush our teeth. We cried, we asked to eat all the time. "

"We were swimming all night"

Thursday night traffickers of human beings took a group of men by boat to an inflatable boat overloaded with migrants, with direction in Italy.

On board the ship there was 75 and 80 people, according to Ahmed, 90 years old according to another rescued Egyptian. Most were Bangladeshis but there was also Egyptians, some Moroccans, Chadians and others whose memory is almost erased.

"We started sinking almost at the beginning, it was midnight", remembers the Egyptian Manzur Mohammed Metwalla, 21 years old." We were swimming all night ".

"They died one by one, every minute we lose one"insists Ahmed, who saw his family die before his eyes.

"Even I abandoned it, but God sent fishermen to save us. If they had arrived ten minutes later, I think I would have given up"he says.

A Tunisian fisherman who arrived around 8 am was able to save 16 Bangladeshi, one Egyptian and one Moroccan.

"If the Tunisian fishermen had not seen them […]we probably would have never heard of this sinking "Explains Mongi Slim, head of the Red Crescent in southern Tunisia.

The tragedy took place at a time when the Sophia European operation ships against the traffickers of people have withdrawn from the eastern Mediterraneanand most of the boats of humanitarian organizations have difficulty accessing.

Survivors have 60 days to decide if they want to return to their country, request asylum through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or remain alone in Tunisia, a country that does not have asylum laws.

"We lost a lot […], We always want to go to Europe, earn enough money and come back "explains Ahmed. "But I do not want to go back to sea," he says.