One Bangladeshi among survivors

A Bangladeshi jobseeker survived the Mediterranean boat capsize that is feared to have claimed lives of 700 migrants on Sunday.

Initially, the survivor was identified as Hasan, 27, by Italian police, said Rubaiyet-E-Ashique, first secretary (labour) to Bangladesh mission in Rome.

He had no passport or any other document. The police interrogated him several times but he was reluctant to identify himself to avoid deportation from Italy, he added.

The Bangladeshi was kept at Cannizzaro Hospital in Italy to avoid virus related diseases, he mentioned.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told reporters at a press conference that the government would continue its move to know whether anymore Bangladeshi was in the sunken boat.

Italian prosecutors said the Bangladeshi survivor told them that 950 people were aboard, Al Jazeera reported. Hundreds among them were locked in the hold by smugglers.

Earlier, the authorities said a survivor informed them that 700 migrants were aboard.

Twenty eight survivors and 24 bodies had been pulled out from the water by nightfall, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.