The Italian authorities confirmed this Wednesday, August 9, that the sinking of a precarious boat left at least 41 migrants dead. The information was released after four survivors claimed that 45 people were being transported on the boat, including children. The events were recorded off the Italian island of Lampedusa. The United Nations (UN) called for “coordinated search and rescue mechanisms” as well as legal pathways for migration and asylum.
First modification:
3 min
The sinking of a barge with migrants returns to mourning in the Mediterranean, while several European countries aim to toughen their measures against the passage of people irregularly.
According to the account of four survivors, rescued this Wednesday morning by a Maltese cargo ship, the boat in which they were traveling along with 41 other people sank off the island of Lampedusa. Later, they were transferred to an Italian coast guard boat.
The migrants arrived in Lampedusa exhausted, in a state of shock and were interrogated by the Police, local prosecutor Salvatore Vella confirmed in the last few hours. It is presumed that they spent several days adrift at sea, without food or drinking water.
“They said they were among the few on board (the sunken boat) wearing a life jacket, and after the capsizing they remained in the water until they found another empty boat,” said the Sea-WatchSea-Watch charity rescue group. through a statement.
It would be too late to find possible survivors, since those rescued declared that the seven-meter boat in which they were on board left Sfax, Tunisia, last Thursday and sank hours later after being hit by a strong wave.
“Suddenly we were overwhelmed by a tidal wave,” one of the survivors described to the coast guard.
The UN calls for a rescue mission and legal pathways to asylum
After the “terrible shipwreck”, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (Acnur) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) issued a joint statement in which they called for coordinated mechanisms for the “search and rescue” of people in the Mediterranean.
In addition, they urge “safe and legal routes” for migration and the granting of asylum for those who flee their countries and try to reach European territory, mainly from African nations, but also from other territories such as Syria, ravaged by internal conflicts. and economic precariousness.
The “prohibitive weather conditions of these days (…) make crossings in small iron boats unfit for navigation extremely dangerous and demonstrate the absolute lack of scruples of traffickers who thus expose migrants and refugees to very high risks of death at sea,” the UN entities added.
Italy, a major route to Europe for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and other migrants, has seen a surge in migrant boats so far this year. Around 93,750 people have arrived by sea, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
#Shipwreck #Mediterranean #migrants #died #including #children