“They likened it to a form of torture where they are caught between hope and despair, not knowing whether they would ever see their loved one again, not knowing if they should give up hope and focus on the rest of their lives”, Robins added.
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One boat called Dignity I, carried 435 people – among them 92 unaccompanied minors and 13 children under the age of 5.
Asked whether he believed legal resettlement of the migrants and refugees by the European Union could help to solve the crisis, Doyle said resettlement, such as, for example, the 10,000 Syrian refugees resettled by the United States of America, represents “only a small proportion” of the “millions of refugees” waiting in camps for such a chance but said it is still a positive measure and definitely “is a way of giving people hope, especially the most vulnerable”.
Migrants have boarded plastic rafts that deflate and overcrowded wooden fishing boats that have overturned and tossed people overboard. Parents handed their babies to strangers in coast guard uniforms to get the infants to safety. In the past year, 105,342 migrants have reached Italy by boat, most of which left from the shores of Libya. The crossing is getting more deadly.
More than 3,100 people have died trying to reach Europe this year.
It is on one of these boats that the twins and their mother were found. Most were believed to be Africans.
Refugees are detained and face dire conditions and human rights abuses in Libya, the Independent notes: “Rights groups say 3,500 [refugees] are being held in around 20 official detention facilities across Libya, with many more detained in informal detention centers run by criminal gangs”.
The Italian coast guard said the rescued migrants are being taken to ports in Calabria and Sicily. Médecins Sans Frontières is still transporting people rescued Monday to Vibo Valentia, Italy, where they will be treated for injuries, processed by immigration authorities and either allowed into Europe or sent back to their home countries.
‘Our patrols have been reduced lately because the vessels are ageing and we don’t have the means to control the Sabratha coast, ‘ Libya’s navy chief, Colonel Ayoub Qassem, said in Tripoli. Turkey’s coast guard has rescued 28,306 people this year as they attempted to make their way to Greece, according to the IOM.
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But more than 460 migrants and refugees arrived on Greek islands on Tuesday alone – the highest figure in several weeks.
