Lampedusa boat tragedy: Italy declares day of mourning for up to 300 drowned African migrants Up to 300 migrants now feared dead after the boat sank off Lampedusa 111 bodies pulled from the water so far another 200 people are missing Victims include two pregnant women and three young children A fire started to attract passing ships quickly spread across wooden vessel Passengers moved to one side to avoid the blaze causing ship to capsize Divers battle choppy waters as they search for bodies of other victims By Hannah Roberts In Rome , Jill Reilly and Sophie Jane Evans The Tunisian captain accused of trafficking hundreds of migrants, who drowned when their boat sank off the coast of Sicily, had already been deported from Italy once, a senior government minister has revealed. The boat claimed 150 lives when it caught fire and capsized, half a mile off the coast of Lampedusa, the southernmost tip of the EU. Hundreds more are still unaccounted for. As dramatic pictures were released of passengers being hauled from the water, it emerged that one of the survivors was arrested yesterday having been identified as one of the traffickers. Hauled to safety: Italian coast guards rescue one of the lucky survivors of the capsizing tragedy that is now believed to have claimed the lives of over 300 African asylum-seekers Rescue: A survivor is thrown a lifebelt by a member of the Italian coastguard following the disaster off teh island of Lampedusa Two African asylum-seekers swim towards a lifebelt with the island of Lampedusa in the background. The coastguard said that of more than 500 people believed to be on board the 20-metre boat, 159 had been rescued Deputy Prime Minister Angelino Alfano said: "The trafficker arrested is a 35-year-old Tunisian who had been expelled from Italy in April and repatriated, But he's returned to human-trafficking with these results." 'There is no reason to think that what happened yesterday in Lampedusa is the last time,' he told parliament. Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into multiple manslaughter, aiding illegal immigration and causing shipwreck. Horrifying: Up to 300 African migrants are feared dead after their ship caught fire and capsized off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, spilling hundreds of passengers into the sea. Above, Italian rescue workers pull a dead body from the water Recovery: Italy is holding a day of national mourning after the vessel caught fire and sank just south of Lampedusa yesterday Fatal: At least 103 bodies have been pulled from the water so far - with another 200 people reported missing Today 140 coffins arrived on the island, where scores of unidentified bodies were lined up in a makeshift morgue, in an airport hangar. Divers searching for bodies beneath and near the boat, 40m beneath the surface, were forced to pull out because of rough seas. No more survivors were expected. Harrowing accounts have emerged of rescuers" attempts to pull the exhausted seafarers from the water. A family of fishermen saved 18 people. Domenico Colapinto told how, after hours treading water, the migrants were too weak to save themselves. He said: "We had two ladders and lowered them shouting "Come up come up!" No one moved. Safe: A young immigrant boy waves for the cameras as he and his mother wait to board a ship bound for Sicily today Survivors: A group of immigrants is detained following their arrival in the temporary shelter in Lampedusa The picture-perfect island, part of Italy, but just 70 miles off the coast of Tunisia, has become the backdoor entry to Europe for thousands of migrants. In the summer thousands make the perilous crossing, often on overcrowded and dangerous boats. The collapse of the dictatorships in Libya and Tunisia brought an end to agreements that placed some controls on the exodus of "boat people" from Africa. Eighty per cent of those arriving on Italian shores plan to make a new life in the UK, British investigators estimate. Despite EU rules that forbid asylum seekers from leaving the country that they arrive in, twenty per cent eventually settle in the UK. Bodies: Bags containing the bodies of the drowned African migrants lie in a hangar at Lampedusa airport Victims: Witnesses described the scene as 'a cemetery in the sea' as scores of lifeless bodies floated in waters off the Mediterranean island Rescue attempts were hampered by an oil slick, the fisherman explained: "They were all covered in petrol. They slipped through our hands. 'I grabbed a woman but I couldn't hold onto her. She fell in the water and I kept telling her "hold on hold on." He went on: "She looked at me and said nothing. She was exhausted. She couldn't even stay afloat. I saw her go down like that without a sound, with those eyes that looked at me. His nephew Francesco Colapinto said he saw at least 20 migrants 'go down with their arms up, like statues. Hearses queue up near the port after arriving on Lampedusa with coffins for the victims Two hearses disembark from a ferry on Lampedusa. Italy is holding a day of national mourning following the tragedy One woman, who was initially thought to be dead, was revived by medical personnel after she was brought back to the port. Today, a rescue agency worker told BBC Radio 4 that the team did not expect to pull any more survivors from the water. She added that many survivors had been coming off the rescue boats naked, looking shell-shocked at what they had seen. Yesterday, Coastguard Commander Floriana Segreto said: 'Divers of the coastguard have found the boat on the sea floor at a depth of 40 metres (130ft). ... She added that they are waiting for the weather to improve and would then start recovering more bodies. 'Once the fire started, there was a concern about the boat sinking and everyone moved to one side, causing the boat to go down,' she told a news conference. The vessel sank no more than 1km (half a mile) from shore. 'It's horrific, like a cemetery, they are still bringing them out,' Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini told reporters yesterday. Statement: Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Angelino Alfano said the incident was a 'European drama, not an Italian drama' A fishing boat raised the alarm at around 7:20am (0520 GMT) yesterday and began pulling people out of the water before coastguard vessels arrived on the scene. Migrants frequently land on Lampedusa, just 113km (70 miles) from the coast of Tunisia, often picked up at sea in dangerously overcrowded boats by the Italian coastguard. The small island has a population of between 4,500 and 5,000 people. Thousands more are believed to have arrived this year. Smugglers charge thousands of dollars a head to slip people into Europe aboard overcrowded, barely seaworthy fishing boats, providing no life vests or other safety features.