In an email, the rescuer, who gave his name as Martin and did not want his family name published, said he had spotted the baby in the water “like a doll, arms outstretched”.
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is deeply saddened by the fact that, once more, hundreds of men, women and children have died in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Europe in the last few days, his spokesman said.
Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) deployed two search-and-rescue boats, called the Dignity 1 and the Argos, in the Mediterranean. “On some occasions, they get there too late”.
The unseaworthy boats sank on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday south of Italy as the migrants tried to reach Europe. “They’re having to mark bodies with life jackets just so they can be picked up later”.
Another picture of another dead child, drowned in the Mediterranean, has captured global attention as the number of people dying while trying to cross the sea continues to climb. In total, 45 bodies were recovered and 135 people rescued.
I wanted to scream, but I made a decision to sing instead, in order to calm myself and the baby which should never have died – and to give some kind of expression to this incomprehensible, heartbreaking moment.
Approximately 1,000 people have drowned so far this week while attempting the lethal crossing into Europe from Libya, making this the deadliest period in the route’s history, the International Organisation for Migration, (IOM) have said.
Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration said smugglers are using even bigger boats and that these are dangerously overloaded.
Meanwhile, 46,714 people have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, around the same number as during the first five months of 2015, UNHCR said. Despite the surge this week, as of Friday 40,660 arrivals had been counted, 2 percent fewer than the same period of previous year, the Interior Ministry said.
A photo showing a tragic drowned baby in the arms of a German rescuer has gone viral, and reignited the debate over the use of such images in coverage of the migrant crisis. “Some women have told us they were subject to sexual slavery in Libya”, the group said.
The influx has caused concern in some conservative European Union societies, boosting right-wing parties and prompting the bloc to negotiate a controversial deal with key transit country Turkey to stem the flow of migrants.
The boats left Libya and were trying to reach Italy.
Three shipwrecks on this route led to at least 700 deaths. But he hopes, like the images of Kurdi past year, the image of this child spurs action to prevent further deaths. He was found dead on a beach in Turkey.
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The picture has gone viral on the internet, and it’s heart-breaking. “We must come together to change irregular, unsafe and costly migration to migration that is legal, safe and orderly”, said Federico Soda, director of the IOM coordination office for the Mediterranean, in a release.
