LAMPEDUSA, Italy -- Choppy seas prevented divers on Friday from recovering more bodies of migrants who died in a shipwreck off Sicily that has killed an estimated 300, in one of the worst disasters of Europe's immigration crisis.
Rescue teams have so far recovered 111 bodies and expect to find more than 100 others in and around the wreck, submerged in 47 meters of water less than a 0.6 miles from the shore of the southern island of Lampedusa.
After 155 people were pulled from the water alive on Thursday, strong winds and meter-high waves made it impossible for 40 divers to safely collect bodies. There was little hope of finding more survivors from the almost 500 passengers estimated to have been on board.
"Though the bad sea conditions persist, our guys are ready to go down if a window opens up that makes it safe for them," coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini told Reuters. The swell is forecast to rise on Saturday and slowly diminish from Sunday.
Though the tiny island takes in thousands of immigrants every year and there have been similar wrecks in the past, residents were shaken by the sheer size of the tragedy.
Lampedusans observed a day of national mourning, closing gas stations, restaurants and shops. After an evening mass in honor of the victims, hundreds took part in a silent candlelit march.
A man holding a cross made from the wood of a wrecked boat led the procession past a banner that said: "We want to welcome the living, not the dead."
"Stop! There are no excuses for indifference" read a banner carried by children.
Some of the nearly 1,000 immigrants now on the island also took part, including 20-year-old Eritrean Afwork, who said he had made a two-day boat journey from Libya a month ago and was now seeking refugee status.
"They were our brothers and sisters. We are very angry. We are very said," he said.
A black flag bearing the word "shame" was flying over the port, close to a cemetery of rotting boats used by migrants to make past crossings from North Africa.
Lampedusa, a tiny fishing and tourist island halfway between Sicily and the coasts of Tunisia and Libya, has borne the brunt of a crisis which over the years has seen tens of thousands of migrants arrive in unsafe and overcrowded vessels.
The boat, carrying mainly Eritrean and Somalis, sank in the early hours of Thursday after fuel caught fire, triggering a panicked rush to one side of the vessel, which capsized.
"I could see dozens of hands and heads, and we heard cries for help," said fisherman Vito Fiorino, who helped save 47 people.
"We alerted the port authority by radio and we started to rescue them, using a life preserver tied to a line attached to the fishing boat."
Pietro Bartolo, chief doctor at the island's clinic, told Reuters survivors were exhausted and dehydrated.
"They are very fragile emotionally, and not only because of the shipwreck, but because they are survivors of terrible experiences. Many are fleeing wars and violence in their home countries, and are weary from a long voyage of suffering."
"It took me five months to reach Italy," said the 41-year-old Eritrean Abrahal, a survivor from another boat that arrived a few days ago. "I paid $1,600 (to the smugglers) and they put me on an old crate."
