“The creation of safe and legal ways for people to seek asylum or migrate to Europe”.
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Wednesday’s rescue operation, which included vessels from the Italian and Irish navies and the humanitarian group Medecins sans Frontieres, continued into the evening.
Only 26 bodies were recovered.
“It was a horrific sight, people desperately clinging to lifebelts, boats, and anything they could, fighting for their lives, amidst people drowning, and those who had already died”, Juan Matías, an MSF project coordinator, said in a statement.
According to people on the rescue boat, there were bodies, life jackets and debris in the water. With seas warm and calm, rescuers expressed hopes others might be alive.
An Irish rescue vessel, LÉ Niamh, and Dignity I, a boat operated by Médecins Sans Frontières, the worldwide medical aid charity, were dispatched to the area.
Testimony revealed how the suspects had allegedly crushed and stabbed passengers through the perilous crossing, locking many individuals within the ship’s maintain. The father, Mohammed, sat next to them.
“If we don’t get there on a voluntary basis, we will have to reconsider the Commission’s proposals”, the former premier of Luxembourg said.
“After he came out with the baby, they were seen, they were rescued and they were brought aboard” Dignity1″.
Meanwhile, searches continue off Libya, where a boat carrying 600-700 migrants overturned Wednesday.
More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died so far this year trying to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 during the whole of last year, the global Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.
The Italian navy said it was handing out life preservers to “numerous” migrants on yet another boat.
Police said accused men, who ranged in age from 21 to 24, charged the migrants between $1 200 and $1 800 for the voyage, depending on where they would be placed on the boat, which was carrying about 650 people when it capsized off the Libyan coast. If that estimate holds, as many as 200 migrants might have drowned.
The Le Niamh docked in Palermo, Sicily, late Thursday afternoon with 367 survivors aboard, along with 25 plain wooden coffins. Six other survivors were evacuated by helicopters for treatment. A young girl, her head jerking back, appeared to collapse as she was scooped into the arms of one of the land-based personnel helping the survivors disembark.
“Some of the people are torn by grief”.
New details of the harrowing conditions faced by the migrants on board were revealed yesterday, as Italian police arrested five North African men on suspicion of multiple homicide and human trafficking.
Officials said it was still not clear how many people were on board.
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When the Dignity1 arrived at the site, it was hard to tell how many were in the water, Gil told The Associated Press in Rome via Skype.
