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300 boat migrants feared drowned
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MORE than 300 migrants were feared drowned yesterday after their overcrowded dinghies sank in the Mediterranean, the latest boat disaster on the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe.
The victims were among migrants mainly from sub-Saharan Africa who had left the coast of Libya at the weekend in four small boats, the United Nations refugee agency said.
“This is a tragedy on an enormous scale and a stark reminder that more lives could be lost if those seeking safety are left at the mercy of the sea,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Europe director Vincent Cochetel said in a statement.
Details of the new disaster emerged after nine survivors out of a group of more than 200 packed into two dinghies were rescued by the coast guard and taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa — just days after 29 perished in the same area.
“Nine were saved after four days at sea. The other 203 were swallowed by the waves,” UNHCR spokeswoman in Italy, Carlotta Sami, said on Twitter.
The agency later said that reports gathered by UNHCR from the Italian coast guard and the survivors in Lampedusa now suggest some 300 people are confirmed missing.
In the last year alone, several thousand people have died trying to cross from north Africa to Europe across the Mediterranean, on what is described as the most dangerous route in the world. The International Organization of Migration said the surviving migrants from the latest disaster spoke French, so likely came from west Africa.
“Because of the bad weather conditions, the two dinghies collapsed and the people fell at sea. Many drowned,” said IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo.
The organization’s spokesman in Geneva Joel Millman said information was coming in about another stricken boat and warned that the overall toll may reach as many as 350.
The latest deaths have highlighted the limited means and scope of Triton, a European Union-run mission which took over in November from the Italian navy’s Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation.
Italy decided to scale back the mission after its EU partners refused to share running costs of around 9 million euros (US$10 million) a month.
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