Up to 500 migrants may have drowned when a large boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the United Nation’s refugee agency, citing witness reports.
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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said survivors had given similar accounts to its workers and that the wreck may have “caused the deaths of upwards of 400 migrants and refugees”.
The 41 survivors – 37 men, three women and a 3-year-old child – were rescued by a merchant ship Saturday and taken to Kalamata, Greece. The group was made up of 23 Somalis, 11 Ethiopians, six Egyptians and one Sudanese national.
The 41 survivors came from Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, the agency said.
One group of between 100 and 200 people from various African countries departed Libya, near the eastern city of Tobruk in a large, unseaworthy vessel, according to survivors who spoke to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. They said smugglers forced them onto a larger boat, which they said already had about 300 people on board although it was dark and they couldn’t see inside.
They are believed to have drifted at sea for up to three days before being rescued by the Philippine-flagged cargo vessel and taken to Kalamata on the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece. Italian officials and aid organizations said Triton’s limited mandate meant more lives were lost because of delays in reaching boats in distress.
The Somali government said on Monday that the capsized boat had set sail from Egypt.
According to the Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants project, the death toll is the largest from a sinking on the central Mediterranean since another one south of Lampedusa in April previous year, in which it says 772 people died. He said he was traveling with his family; “I saw my wife and my 2-month old child die at sea, together with my brother-in-law”, Mohamed said.
“When we went out to sea in our Sea Watch-1 boat we hoped things would change for the better, that some political measures would be taken to legalize the refugees’ arrival to Europe”.
After the disaster off the Libyan coast in April 2015-the single deadliest episode in the flood of migrants trying to reach Greece and Italy in recent years-Triton was expanded into a full-blown search-and-rescue mission.
Barbara Molinario, a Rome-based spokeswoman for UNHCR, said details remained unclear and said its staffers didn’t want to press the survivors too hard “as they are still very tried by their experience”.
The incident reportedly happened April 8.
Authorities fear that calmer seas at the onset of spring will encourage greater numbers of migrants to attempt the perilous crossing to Italy after a winter lull.
The reports by UNHCR and the IOM clarify rumours that circulated regarding the shipwreck.
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UNHCR once again urged the European Union authorities to increase regular pathways for the admission of refugees and asylum-seekers to Europe, including resettlement and humanitarian admission programs, family reunification, private sponsorship and student and work visas for refugees. In exchange, the deal offers some refugees the ability to fly to Europe in a one-in one-out arrangement.
