The fire then spread, sowing panic on board which caused the boat to flip over and eventually sink. We were 500 on that boat, we could hardly move,” one survivor said, ANSA reported.“We have 92 dead and 151 people saved.“They have been in the water since the early hours of the morning,” Nicolini said. Shaken survivors wrapped in thermal blankets — many of them bare-chested — were seen arriving on the dock in images shown on Italian television, as an emergency worker broke down in tears.“3 fishing boats spotted us during the crossing but did not rescue us,” he said.Prosecutors have opened an inquiry for multiple murders, as well as favouring illegal immigration.On Monday, 13 Eritrean asylum-seekers drowned as they tried to swim ashore when their boat ran aground off Sicily near the city of Ragusa.There has been an increase in the incidents off Italy in recent weeks amid an upsurge in arrivals — mainly from Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Syria.“There are still hundreds missing,” he added.“We received the first alert at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) when a boat reported people in the water,” he said.

We are looking for more survivors in the water,” a coast guard spokesman told AFP, adding that the search had been going on for more than 6 hours.Italian prime minister Enrico Letta called the incident “an immense tragedy” in a tweet.“The first assistance was provided by people on pleasure boats who heard the screams,” Antonino Candela, a local emergency medical worker, said.Giusi Nicolini, the mayor of Lampedusa island near where the incident happened, told news channel SkyTG24: “The survivors are in a state of shock”.

“We left 2 days ago from the Libyan port of Misrata.At least 92 people drowned and around 200 were believed missing after a boat carrying up to 500 African asylum seekers caught fire and sank off the Italian coast on Thursday, officials said.“This is shameful,” the pope said at a Vatican conference.Nicolini said the migrants had told her they lit a small fire on their boat around half a mile from the shore to attract the attention of coast guards after their vessel suffered engine failure.“We don’t need ambulances unfortunately, we need hearses,” Bartolo said.At least 92 people drowned and around 200 were believed missing after a boat carrying up to 500 African asylum seekers caught fire and sank off the Italian coast on Thursday, officials said. “Let us join forces so these tragedies never happen again.“I am dismayed at the rising global phenomenon of migrants and people fleeing conflict or persecution and perishing at sea,” UN High commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

The accident was the latest in many drownings involving migrants travelling on rickety fishing boats or rubber dinghies in the Mediterranean, where thousands have died in recent years. We have to mobilise, do something concrete to avoid these constant tragedies of despair”.The bodies were being taken to a hangar at the local airport because there was no more room in the local morgue on the remote southern Italian island, which has a population of around 6,000. I1.“This is a tragedy without precedent.Lampedusa is an Italian island lying between Tunisia and Sicily and is a major entryway for asylum-seekers into the European Union, with thousands arriving every year.A young Tunisian man believed to be 1 of the crew members has been detained, ANSA reported.”The local archbishop, Francesco Montenegro, said: “We cannot keep on counting the dead.A local doctor said a 3-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl were among the victims.Pope Francis, who visited Lampedusa in July to plead for more tolerance and attention to the plight of refugees, called for prayers..In a similar incident near Catania in another part of Sicily in August, 6 young Egyptian men drowned trying to reach the shore. In many years of work here I have never seen anything like this,” Pietro Bartolo, a local doctor, was China Silicone Rubber O-Rings Suppliers quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying.As hopes faded of finding more survivors, the coast guard, border patrol, fire brigade and navy were all taking part in the search and were joined by fishing trawlers and pleasure boats.The asylum-seekers said they were from Eritrea and Somalia and local police were quoted as saying they believed the boat had left from Libyan shores

“There were also representations from the tobacco industry showing their concern on the China Automobile Tubing Manufacturers remaining stock. “The ministry of law has suggested to give tobacco manufacturers a grace period of two months for clearing their stocks left with them as we had asked them if the manufactueres can be allowed to sell their stocks bearing the earlier warnings. Data suggests that nearly 10 lakh Indians die annually (about 2,700 daily) from tobacco related diseases. However, the Tobacco Institute of India (TII), a lobby group that represents 98 per cent of India’s cigarette industry, “unanimously decided to shut all their cigarette factories with effect from April 1 citing “ambiguity” on the policy related to revision of Graphic Health Warnings on tobacco product packs. We went to the law ministry for their opinion so that the existing stock can be utilised,” added sources. The health ministry has yet not issued any directive on it.

Tobacco firms may get 2 months to sell stock with 40 per cent warning | TEENA THACKER Published: Apr 30, 2016, 7:06 am IST Updated: Apr 30, 2016, 7:06 am IST In what could be a major relief to tobacco manufactures, the ministry of law has suggested to the ministry of health to give a grace period of two months to tobacco manufacturers for clearing the rema In what could be a major relief to tobacco manufactures, the ministry of law has suggested to the ministry of health to give a grace period of two months to tobacco manufacturers for clearing the remainder of the stocks carrying 40 per cent pictorial warnings on tobacco products.Interestingly, there is no evidence to suggest that introduction of large warnings ever had any adverse effect on the livelihood of people, while there is ample evidence to prove that millions of people in India face economic and health hardship because of their present engagement in tobacco farming, manufacturing of tobacco products and related work.

While, the recent government notification, saying that 85 per cent of the display area should have pictorial warnings, came to effect from April 1, the health ministry had recently sought the ministry of law’s opinion on the “disposal of the stock” pending with the manufacturers. Even as the health ministry remained firm on their decision, at many places the old stocks carrying older pictorial warnings were confiscated. Meanwhile, consumption of tobacco has been an enormous health and economic burden for India. Tobacco use is a leading cause of tuberculosis related mortality in India.. 1,04,500 crore Indian rupees are spent on healthcare costs to treat tobacco related diseases. Highest numbers of oral cancer cases in the world occur in India and 90 per cent of these are tobacco related. Significantly, 50 per cent of all cancers in India are due to tobacco use.According to the recent notification, all tobacco products must carry “bolder” pictorial health warnings. Even as the law ministry opined giving them two months, we have further asked them to clarify their opinion as the existing law does not permit any grace period,” reliable sources disclosed