At least 700 migrants trying to reach Italy via the central Mediterranean died in sea accidents over the past seven days, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said Sunday, nearly doubling this year’s estimated death tally.
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On Thursday morning, 500 migrants were declared missing after their fishing boat capsized near Libya, www.ndtv.com reports.
A day later, a boat that had left from the Libyan port of Sabratha capsized as it neared Italy. According to refugees who saw the boat sink, the boat didn’t have an engine and was being towed by another packed smuggling boat before it capsized. Almost 100 people were rescued by global patrol boats and 15 bodies have been so far recovered, AP reported, citing UNHCR.
In related news, The British coast guard said it rescued 19 people from the English Channel after their inflatable boat started to take on water. Giorgia Liardi was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “There were already many dead bodies floating in the sea”.
Brought to safety in the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo, survivors yesterday told refugee agency UNHCR and Save the Children how their boat sank last Thursday after a high-seas drama that saw one woman decapitated. For two hours we fought against the water but it was useless.
As The Associated Press notes, it’s impossible to verify exact death tolls “because the bodies went missing in the open sea”.
According to several accounts from news wire services, a Sudanese captain ordered the cutting of the rope between the two vessels as the latter began to take on water.
One of the 45 bodies of migrants that were recovered by the Italian military ship Vega during its search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean sea, is being disembarked at the harbor of Reggio Calabria, Southern Italy.
Humanitarian organization Save the Children also reported three separate instances of boat capsizing recently.
The captain and three suspected people smugglers were arrested by Italian officials, according to local media. The second boat quickly sank. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. “It is terrible, but basically the central Mediterranean route is confirmed as the most terrible”, she said.
“And the smugglers, . survivors told us the smugglers literally pushed them out at high sea and they found themselves in completely unseaworthy ships and boats that simply got submerged”.
“But the second boat began to sink”.
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An average of 1,000 unaccompanied children a month have arrived in Italy this year but UNICEF expects this figures to spike in the coming months.
