A top-level European Union delegation visiting the southern Italian island of Lampedusa to commemorate the victims of last week's migrant shipwreck faced a hostile reception from residents.
According to a provisional death toll, 289 people died in the October 3 accident. There were 155 survivors, but scuba divers were still searching for dozens of victims on the sunken wreck, which is lying at a depth of almost 50 meters.
Dozens of people shouted "buffoons, shame" as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom visited the airport hangar where the dead have been piled up.
They were accompanied by Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, back from Tuesday's meeting with EU counterparts where Italian requests for help in dealing with migrants were discussed, but no immediate action was approved.
"They should be ashamed of themselves! They should solve this humanitarian problem!" one protester said at the fence of the local airport.
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Local residents wanted the EU delegation to visit the overcrowded reception centre where migrants where being hosted. On Tuesday, the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR, called conditions at the facility "absolutely unacceptable."
Earlier this week, Lampedusa mayor Giusi Nicolini said islanders wanted more than a symbolic visit from the EU.
"If they have to come to Lampedusa only to express their condolences, they can send an email, we need concrete commitments here."
