Some 320 others were rescued when the vessel was intercepted off Libya. Massimo Tozzi, speaking from the navy ship Cigala Fulgosi while the rescue was still ongoing. It was April when 800 migrants drowned when the vessel they were travelling in capsized off the Libyan coast.
Advertisement
When he reached Libya, he and other migrants were kidnapped by uniformed men and imprisoned in an apartment until they paid an extra $300 (£200).
These families disembarking were the lucky ones – in another rescue operation on Saturday (August 15) at least 40 bodies were found after apparently getting trapped and suffocating in the water-logged hold of a fishing boat.
The navy said the survivors were later transferred to a Norwegian ship with the Frontex mission, a European effort to save lives in the Mediterranean.
Human traffickers running the operations from Libya are said to charge around half that price for a spot in the overcrowded hold.
“These latest tragedies underscore the dangers faced by migrants in the Channel of Sicily, now the deadliest route for those fleeing violence, natural disasters and abject poverty”, the migration agency said in a statement. Dr Crepet said nearly all women who make the journey from their homes in Africa or the Middle East are raped along the way, often arriving several months pregnant.
On Tuesday, up to 50 migrants went missing when a large rubber dinghy sank in the Mediterranean Sea.
More than 103,000 migrants have arrived on Italy’s shores since the start of the year while almost 135,000 have arrived in Greece.
“Either the worldwide community does something to resolve the Libyan situation or this will not be the last tragedy”, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said.
Earlier this week, there were some 7,000 refugees and migrants on Kos, but that number has fallen to some 2,500, according to Greek police, with those who have registered travelling on to Athens.
Advertisement
The Geneva-based global Organisation for Migration has said numbers of migrants trying to reach Europe by sea is heading for a record figure this year.
