Lampedusa boat disaster: Divers recover more bodies 6 October 2013 Last updated at 13:32 Divers in Italy have been recovering more bodies from the boat of African migrants that sank on Thursday. Sixteen bodies have so far been brought out on Sunday, bringing the official death toll to 127. Up to 250 people are missing and 155 have survived the accident off Lampedusa island. The authorities have denied allegations that they were slow to mount a rescue. France has called for an urgent EU meeting after Italy requested help to deal with the influx of migrants. A man from Eritrea is rescued: "You have to search" I lost my cousin, who was on the boat with me, I also lost many friends End Quote Futsum Mesfa Eritrean migrant Divers resumed their search on Sunday morning, after 48-hour delay due to bad weather. Many bodies are believed to be trapped in the wreck located in deep water, about 1km (half a mile) off Lampedusa . The offence carries a 5,000-euro (£4,230; $6,780) fine. Italy has said it will amend immigration laws. Members of parliament have complained that some of its provisions discourage people from helping migrants in distress. And two of the migrants have told the BBC that boats did rescue them, but it took a while. After swimming for a long time, probably around three hours, boats started to arrive to rescue us. Rescue boats, small boats, all the boats in the area came to save us, they dragged us out of the water," Futsum Mesfa, 20, from Eritrea said. "I lost my cousin, who was on the boat with me, I also lost many friends," he added. The head of a fishermen's association, Toto Martello, denied in turn reports that three fishermen sailed straight past the scene of the accident. The 20m (66ft) boat carrying more than 500 people - mostly from Eritrea and Somalia - was approaching Lampedusa early on Thursday when it began taking on water after its motor stopped working. Mr Mesfa told the BBC that the skipper set fire to a piece of material to try to attract the attention of passing ships, only to have the fire spread to the rest of the vessel.