[5][6] It was initially reported that over five hundred people were on board the 20-metre-long (66 ft) fishing boat when it began to have engine trouble less than a quarter-mile from Lampedusa, causing the ship to begin sinking.

A further 108 bodies were reported retrieved by 9 October, after access was gained to the inside of the boat's hull, resting some 47 metres (154 ft) beneath the surface of the water.

[13] The alleged captain of the boat, a 35-year-old Tunisian named as Khaled Bensalam, who was reported to have been deported from Italy in April 2013, was arrested under suspicion of being responsible for the sinking.

[15] On 8 November, a 34-year-old Somali national, Mouhamud Elmi Muhidin, and a Palestinian man, Attour Abdalmenem, were also arrested under suspicion of having been among the traffickers that organized the voyage.

Police indicated that Muhidin was facing a series of charges, including people trafficking, kidnapping, sexual assault, and criminal association with the aim of abetting illicit immigration.

[3] António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, commended the Italian Coast Guard for their quick reaction to the disaster.

"[18] José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Italian Prime Minister Letta visited Lampedusa on 9 October.

The boat was carrying over 200 migrants, reportedly from Syria and Palestine, and capsized when people on board moved to one side of the vessel as they tried to get the attention of a passing aircraft.

"[5] United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community as a whole "to take action to prevent such tragedies in the future, including measures that address their root causes and that places the vulnerability and human rights of migrants at the centre of the response.