“On migrant boats it is people below deck who provide the ballast and often they end up trying to get out as quickly as possible because the heat is unbearable or there is gas leaking somewhere”.
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However, the Guardian’s migrant correspondent Patrick Kingsley said that an activist had told him that he had spoken to a “boat of Syrians” on Thursday morning. At the same time, migrants will be expected to participate in expanded orientation and language courses, which will also be made available more quickly and to more people than before.
Greek officials have been relocating the residents to more organized facilities in other parts of the country.
Libyan coastguard also reported finding four bodies as well as also two empty boats during two operations on Thursday that rescued 766 migrants off the coastal cities of Sabratha and Zwara. Many had life jackets.
Another navy ship sent a helicopter to aid in the rescue.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, over 1,370 migrants have died so far this year in attempting the perilous crossing to Europe.
An aircraft from the European Union’s Sophia mission to fight people smuggling spotted the overturned vessel and called the coastguard to assist in the rescue.
Rome: Dozens of migrants were missing Friday after an overloaded fishing boat sank off the coast of Libya, the third major tragedy in the Mediterranean in as many days, Italian rescuers said. The Italian coast guard responded with two rescue vessels to the location some 30 miles (50 kilometers) off Libya’s coast.
Nicastro said 88 people had been rescued from the capsized wooden boat.
The single deadliest migrant boat sinking remains one from April 2015 when some 700 people died.
Italian Navy ship Vega plucked about 135 people off a “half-submerged” large rubber boat in one of 17 operations coordinated by the coastguard on Friday.
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The French news agency AFP said its interviews with migrants on board rescue vessels of SOS Mediterranean and Doctors without Borders (MSF) highlighted atrocious conditions in Libya.
