Up to 700 Feared Dead After Migrant Boat Capsizes in Mediterranean
ERIC REGULY
ROME — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Apr. 19 2015, 8:26 AM EDT
The extreme danger faced by migrants crossing the Mediterranean in small, rickety vessels was highlighted earlier today when a boat carry as many as 700 capsized, resulting in possibly the largest mass drowning since the migrant crisis began several years ago.
Initial reports said that only 28 of the 700 migrants had been rescued, though one report put the figure at 50. The disaster happened about 60 kilometres off the Libyan coast and about 200 kilometres south of the Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies roughly half way between Sicily and northwest Libya.
The emergency was declared at about midnight, local time, with more than a dozen Italian and Maltese ships taking part in the rescue, plus three helicopters. At midday Sunday, the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said the rescue was ongoing. The vessel is believed to have capsized when the migrants shifted to one side of the vessel when a merchant ship approached. “At the moment, we fear that this is a tragedy of really vast proportions, UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami told SkyTG24 television.
The incident appears to be similar to one last week, when about 400 migrants were believed to have drowned when the sudden rush to one side of the boat caused it tip over.
Speaking at a political event in northern Italy, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said Europe was witnessing “systematic slaughter in the Mediterranean” and called for an emergency cabinet meeting.
If confirmed, the 700 deaths would bring the number of dead in the Mediterranean to 1,500 so far this year. That’s a nine-fold increase over the first four months of last year. In 2014, more than 3,000 migrants perished in the Mediterranean, the highest on record. With the migrant crossings becoming more frequent as the weather turns warmer, the UNHCR and the emergency rescue services fear the death toll could set a new record in 2015.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 20,000 migrants have reached Lampedusa, Sicily and other parts of the Italian coast this year.
The latest deaths have already triggered a new debate within the European Union on how to prevent more tragedies as migration across the Mediterranean shows no sign of abating. The civil wars and humanitarian crises in Syria, Libya and parts of sub-Saharan Africa are delivering tens of thousands of migrants into the hands of ruthless human traffickers, who usually provide the migrants with flimsy boats, broken-down boats that are incapable of making it safely through storms and high seas.
“A tragedy is unfolding in the Mediterranean and if the EU and the world continue to close their eyes, it will be judged in the harshest terms,” Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat said Sunday.
Late last year, the Italian government, with the encouragement of some EU member states, wound down its Mare Nostrum migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean, which were carried out by the Italian navy. Those countries critical of Mare Nostrum said its presence merely encouraged migrant crossings – the “pull factor” – endangering more lives. The Italians also complained that the operation was excessively costly, at about €9-million a month, and had sought unsuccessfully to share the financial burden.
Mare Nostrum’s replacement program, run by the EU, is called Triton and operates with one-third of Mare Nostrum budget.
Roberta Metsola, a Maltese European Parliament member who has been campaigning for a broader response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis, has called Triton wholly inadequate and wants more ships devoted to the operation, as do the Italians. She is the lead author of an EU report that says the root causes of the migration crisis, such as the proliferation of traffickers in Libya, have to be tackled.
In his regular papal address on Sunday, Pope Francis expressed his sorrow for the victims of the mass drowning. “These are men and women like us who seek a better life,” he said. “Hungry, persecuted, injured, exploited, victims of wars. They were looking for happiness.”
Mediterranean migrants: Hundreds feared dead after boat capsizes
BBC World Service
Thousands of migrants have already tried to cross the Mediterranean in rickety boats this year
Hundreds of people are feared to have drowned after a boat carrying up to 700 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, the Italian coastguard says.
A major rescue operation is under way after the vessel carrying "between 500 and 700 migrants" capsized at midnight local time in Libyan waters south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
So far 28 people have been rescued.
Since the start of the year, at least 900 other migrants are thought to have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In the past week alone, Italy's coastguard rescued 10,000 migrants whose vessels ran into trouble.
Italian ships, the Maltese Navy and commercial vessels are all involved in the latest rescue operation, 130 miles (210km) off the coast of Lampedusa and 17 miles from the Libyan coast. Twenty-four bodies have been recovered.
The Italian coastguard's spokesman told the BBC the operation was still focused on search and rescue, "but in time it will be a search [for bodies] only".
The migrants reportedly fell overboard when they rushed to draw the attention of a passing merchant vessel, causing their ship to capsize.
Maltese PM Joseph Muscat said rescuers were "literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in the water". He put the number of survivors at 50.
Dr Muscat told the BBC: "What is happening now is of epic proportions. If Europe, if the global community continues to turn a blind eye... we will all be judged in the same way that history has judged Europe when it turned a bind eye to the genocide of this century and last century."
Lampedusa is scrambling to react to the latest horror in the seas off its coastline. Much of the harbour has emptied. Coastguard, customs and fishing boats all left before dawn to help with the rescue.
Marta Bernardini works for the charity Mediterranean Hope, which is based on the island and works with migrants. She told the BBC: "We are very sad. It's so difficult for us who live and work in Lampedusa every day, to know that a lot of people die in this way, in the Mediterranean Sea."
Lampedusa is the most southerly point of Italy - nearer Africa than the Italian mainland. Locals say that since January - when the EU took control of patrolling Europe's maritime borders - between 9,000 and 10,000 migrants have arrived on the island.
There are currently 1,000 migrants in a detention centre on Lampedusa - an island of 5,000 people.
A maritime rescue operation run by Italy, Mare Nostrum, ended last year after some EU members said they could not afford it and amid concerns it was encouraging more migrants. The EU now runs a more limited border control operation called Triton.
While Mare Nostrum had a monthly budget of €9.5m ($10.3m; £9.6m) and covered much of the Mediterranean, Triton's budget is less than a third of that at €2.9m ($3.1m), and its remit extends only into Maltese and Italian waters.
Justin Forsyth, chief executive of aid group Save the Children, urged the EU to restart rescue operations.
"The scale of what is happening in the Mediterranean is not an accident, it is a direct result of our policy," he said.
The European Commission said in a statement that it was working on a new migration strategy which would be adopted in mid-May.
"The only way to truly change the reality is to address the situation at its roots," it said.
"As long as there is war and hardship in our neighbourhood near and far... as long as countries of origin and transit do not take action to prevent these desperate trips, people will continue to put their lives at risk."
EU foreign ministers will meet on the migrant issue on Monday.
Last year a record 170,000 people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East made the perilous crossing to Italy. Thousands died making the journey.
ROME — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Apr. 19 2015, 8:26 AM EDT
The extreme danger faced by migrants crossing the Mediterranean in small, rickety vessels was highlighted earlier today when a boat carry as many as 700 capsized, resulting in possibly the largest mass drowning since the migrant crisis began several years ago.
Initial reports said that only 28 of the 700 migrants had been rescued, though one report put the figure at 50. The disaster happened about 60 kilometres off the Libyan coast and about 200 kilometres south of the Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies roughly half way between Sicily and northwest Libya.
The emergency was declared at about midnight, local time, with more than a dozen Italian and Maltese ships taking part in the rescue, plus three helicopters. At midday Sunday, the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said the rescue was ongoing. The vessel is believed to have capsized when the migrants shifted to one side of the vessel when a merchant ship approached. “At the moment, we fear that this is a tragedy of really vast proportions, UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami told SkyTG24 television.
The incident appears to be similar to one last week, when about 400 migrants were believed to have drowned when the sudden rush to one side of the boat caused it tip over.
Speaking at a political event in northern Italy, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said Europe was witnessing “systematic slaughter in the Mediterranean” and called for an emergency cabinet meeting.
If confirmed, the 700 deaths would bring the number of dead in the Mediterranean to 1,500 so far this year. That’s a nine-fold increase over the first four months of last year. In 2014, more than 3,000 migrants perished in the Mediterranean, the highest on record. With the migrant crossings becoming more frequent as the weather turns warmer, the UNHCR and the emergency rescue services fear the death toll could set a new record in 2015.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 20,000 migrants have reached Lampedusa, Sicily and other parts of the Italian coast this year.
The latest deaths have already triggered a new debate within the European Union on how to prevent more tragedies as migration across the Mediterranean shows no sign of abating. The civil wars and humanitarian crises in Syria, Libya and parts of sub-Saharan Africa are delivering tens of thousands of migrants into the hands of ruthless human traffickers, who usually provide the migrants with flimsy boats, broken-down boats that are incapable of making it safely through storms and high seas.
“A tragedy is unfolding in the Mediterranean and if the EU and the world continue to close their eyes, it will be judged in the harshest terms,” Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat said Sunday.
Late last year, the Italian government, with the encouragement of some EU member states, wound down its Mare Nostrum migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean, which were carried out by the Italian navy. Those countries critical of Mare Nostrum said its presence merely encouraged migrant crossings – the “pull factor” – endangering more lives. The Italians also complained that the operation was excessively costly, at about €9-million a month, and had sought unsuccessfully to share the financial burden.
Mare Nostrum’s replacement program, run by the EU, is called Triton and operates with one-third of Mare Nostrum budget.
Roberta Metsola, a Maltese European Parliament member who has been campaigning for a broader response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis, has called Triton wholly inadequate and wants more ships devoted to the operation, as do the Italians. She is the lead author of an EU report that says the root causes of the migration crisis, such as the proliferation of traffickers in Libya, have to be tackled.
In his regular papal address on Sunday, Pope Francis expressed his sorrow for the victims of the mass drowning. “These are men and women like us who seek a better life,” he said. “Hungry, persecuted, injured, exploited, victims of wars. They were looking for happiness.”
Mediterranean migrants: Hundreds feared dead after boat capsizes
BBC World Service
Thousands of migrants have already tried to cross the Mediterranean in rickety boats this year
Hundreds of people are feared to have drowned after a boat carrying up to 700 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, the Italian coastguard says.
A major rescue operation is under way after the vessel carrying "between 500 and 700 migrants" capsized at midnight local time in Libyan waters south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
So far 28 people have been rescued.
Since the start of the year, at least 900 other migrants are thought to have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In the past week alone, Italy's coastguard rescued 10,000 migrants whose vessels ran into trouble.
Italian ships, the Maltese Navy and commercial vessels are all involved in the latest rescue operation, 130 miles (210km) off the coast of Lampedusa and 17 miles from the Libyan coast. Twenty-four bodies have been recovered.
The Italian coastguard's spokesman told the BBC the operation was still focused on search and rescue, "but in time it will be a search [for bodies] only".
The migrants reportedly fell overboard when they rushed to draw the attention of a passing merchant vessel, causing their ship to capsize.
Maltese PM Joseph Muscat said rescuers were "literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in the water". He put the number of survivors at 50.
Dr Muscat told the BBC: "What is happening now is of epic proportions. If Europe, if the global community continues to turn a blind eye... we will all be judged in the same way that history has judged Europe when it turned a bind eye to the genocide of this century and last century."
Lampedusa is scrambling to react to the latest horror in the seas off its coastline. Much of the harbour has emptied. Coastguard, customs and fishing boats all left before dawn to help with the rescue.
Marta Bernardini works for the charity Mediterranean Hope, which is based on the island and works with migrants. She told the BBC: "We are very sad. It's so difficult for us who live and work in Lampedusa every day, to know that a lot of people die in this way, in the Mediterranean Sea."
Lampedusa is the most southerly point of Italy - nearer Africa than the Italian mainland. Locals say that since January - when the EU took control of patrolling Europe's maritime borders - between 9,000 and 10,000 migrants have arrived on the island.
There are currently 1,000 migrants in a detention centre on Lampedusa - an island of 5,000 people.
A maritime rescue operation run by Italy, Mare Nostrum, ended last year after some EU members said they could not afford it and amid concerns it was encouraging more migrants. The EU now runs a more limited border control operation called Triton.
While Mare Nostrum had a monthly budget of €9.5m ($10.3m; £9.6m) and covered much of the Mediterranean, Triton's budget is less than a third of that at €2.9m ($3.1m), and its remit extends only into Maltese and Italian waters.
Justin Forsyth, chief executive of aid group Save the Children, urged the EU to restart rescue operations.
"The scale of what is happening in the Mediterranean is not an accident, it is a direct result of our policy," he said.
The European Commission said in a statement that it was working on a new migration strategy which would be adopted in mid-May.
"The only way to truly change the reality is to address the situation at its roots," it said.
"As long as there is war and hardship in our neighbourhood near and far... as long as countries of origin and transit do not take action to prevent these desperate trips, people will continue to put their lives at risk."
EU foreign ministers will meet on the migrant issue on Monday.
Last year a record 170,000 people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East made the perilous crossing to Italy. Thousands died making the journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment