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The Italian ship captain who saved 562 refugees from a capsized migrant vessel has described the moments leading up to the tragic accident.
Italian Navy patrol boat captain Francesco Iavazzo came across the overcrowded Libyan fishing vessel on its way to Italy across the Mediterranean.
He said that he tried to calm people down and tell them not to to move, but at least five people have since been reported dead by the Italian Navy. Some reports claim even more bodies have been recovered.
Captain Iavazzo told Radio 4's Today programme : "Although I tried to keep people calm, shouting to them: 'Please sit down, do not stand, do not move because the boat isn't stable'. But fear is fear so the people were not listening basically."
The scared passengers did not heed his warning and the boat capsized. Navy rescue swimmers entered the water while the patrol boat came as close to the overturned vessel as possible, throwing flotation devices into the water.
"The boat was already taking in water, so the stability was even worse, so what we could do was make our transfer as fast as possible," Captain Iavazzo said.
"But at a certain point, it capsized. All I did was take my ship as close as possible to the wreck and order my crew to throw into the water everything that was floating to give people something to hold on.
"We've been rescuing five bodies, they are now on my ship, but we cannot exclude that there were more people inside the ship."
Show all 70 1 /70The refugee crisis - in pictures The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian refugee holding a baby in a lifetube swims towards the shore after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee raises a child into the air as Syrian and Afghan refugees are seen on and around a dinghy that deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos
The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian and Afghan refugees fall into the sea after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrians cross under a fence into Hungary at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees who have just crossed the border from Serbia into Hungary walk along a railway track that joins the two countries, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Police arrest refugees at Cobham Services on the M25 in Surrey, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Men hold a boy as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and fellow refugees during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian father holds his children close as his arrives on the Greek Island of Kos, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian holds his 30-day-old baby on an overcrowded train as they travel through Macedonia. Tens of thousands of refugees, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, use the Balkans route to get into the European Union, passing from Greece to Macedonia and Serbia and then to western Europe, August 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees crossed part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, May 2015
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The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Armed Forces of Malta personnel in protective clothing carry the body of a dead man off Italian coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti as surviving refugees watch in Senglea, in Valletta's Grand Harbour, April 2015
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Over the last two years, more than 320,000 refugees have landed in Italy in boats. An estimated 7,000 people have perished while attemtping to cross the Mediterranean.
"When something like that happens it touches you inside," Captain Iavazzo added.
"You would like to save everybody, you would like to magically push them out of the water at once, then you crash with reality. We did all that was possible to be done."
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