Italian navy, charity aid African migrants arriving by sea

Sitting outside the central train station in Catania, Italy, a 16-year-old who would only give his name as Simon hunched his knees up to his chest and wrapped himself up into a ball. With little spoken English, the teenager from Eritrea has taken to miming the way he traveled across the Mediterranean.

He was one of some 325 migrants crammed into an overcrowded boat that left Libya earlier this month, only to lose power a few hours into the journey.

“For six hours we floated on top of the sea,” he said, explaining how he was kept below deck until being rescued by the Italian navy. Having been stored like cargo by people smugglers, Simon had become sick and was swiftly treated by a doctor.