Egyptian smugglers who rammed and capsized a migrant boat, killing hundreds of people, chopped the hands of an asylum seeker who clung to the vessel in a desperate bid to save himself, survivors told Times of Malta.

In their first comments to the media, three Palestinian survivors who were brought to Malta on Sunday described the vicious way in which they were capsized by smugglers, who watched as scores of people, including infants drowned.

“I will never be able to remove these images from my head. I saw an entire Syrian family perish one by one. I was next to them most of the time, helping them. First the father died, then the mother, then I was left to take care of their one-year-old boy and he died in my arms, before rescuers came,” 23-year-old Palestinian survivor Mohammed Ali-Amadalla said.

Mohammed and his brother Ibrahim were brought to Malta along with 27-year-old fellow Palestinian, Maamoun Dougmoush and are among a small group of just 13 who made it out alive from among more than 300 people.

“We were treated like dogs all the way but these (Egyptian smugglers) were the worst. At one point, when we all ended up in the sea, one man tried to hold on to their boat to save himself, they chopped his hands off and he ended up in the sea.”

The smugglers rammed their boat after the migrants refused to transfer from their fishing vessel onto a smaller boat. Entire families, and dozens of children, ended up in the sea, 300 miles southeast of Malta.

The vessel went down quickly after being rammed. “Just seconds and everyone was in the sea. Half the people on board died instantly because they went down with the boat,” Mohammed recounted.

The Palestinians brought to Malta contradicted reports by other survivors, who were taken to Crete and Sicily, that there may have been as many as 500 people on board, insisting on the three hundred figure.

But the magnitude of the incident does not make it any less harrowing.

They are at the Safi detention centre now but though they look rested, they are still very much agitated.

Maamoun, also had his brother Amin with him during the crossing, but he disappeared in the sea just minutes before rescue by a cargo ship.

He still harbours hope that his brother and cousin might have somehow made it.

“I need you to check if they are with the other survivors. Please... I was with my brother, taking care of him, till the end, because after a few days he started losing it. But then as we were being rescued, he wasn’t next to me,” Maamoun said, visibly frustrated that he did not have the energy to do more at that crucial moment.

mmicallef@timesofmalta.com

More details in Times of Malta tomorrow.