Source: news.nationalpost.com - Sunday, April 19, 2015
ROME — A crowded fishing boat that one survivor said carried 700 migrants capsized north of Libya overnight, and only a few dozen people were rescued Sunday, raising fears that it could become the Mediterranean’s deadliest known migrant sea disaster. The capsizing prompted more dismay among exasperated Italian officials, refugee aid officials agencies and Pope Francis, all of whom are demanding more European or international action to stop a deadly tide of migration. Migrants have aimed for Europe’s shores for many years, fleeing war, persecution and conflict in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But the turmoil and warfare in Libya has made it easier for smugglers to take to the sea. Rescuers Sunday were “checking who is alive and who is dead” among the bodies floating on the surface, said Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whose tiny Mediterranean nation joined the rescue operations. He called it the “biggest human tragedy of the last few years.” “Nobody should be allowed to die this way,” he said. The 20-metre vessel may have overturned because migrants rushed to one side of the craft late Saturday night when they saw an approaching Portuguese-flagged container ship, the King Jacob, which the Italian Coast Guard had dispatched to help them. The Coast Guard said at least 28 survivors had been rescued by Sunday morning. Muscat put the number of survivors at 50, and International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millma
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ROME — A crowded fishing boat that one survivor said carried 700 migrants capsized north of Libya overnight, and only a few dozen people were rescued Sunday, raising fears that it could become the Mediterranean’s deadliest known migrant sea disaster. The capsizing prompted more dismay among exasperated Italian officials, refugee aid officials agencies and Pope Francis, all of whom are demanding more European or international action to stop a deadly tide of migration. Migrants have aimed for Europe’s shores for many years, fleeing war, persecution and conflict in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But the turmoil and warfare in Libya has made it easier for smugglers to take to the sea. Rescuers Sunday were “checking who is alive and who is dead” among the bodies floating on the surface, said Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whose tiny Mediterranean nation joined the rescue operations. He called it the “biggest human tragedy of the last few years.” “Nobody should be allowed to die this way,” he said. The 20-metre vessel may have overturned because migrants rushed to one side of the craft late Saturday night when they saw an approaching Portuguese-flagged container ship, the King Jacob, which the Italian Coast Guard had dispatched to help them. The Coast Guard said at least 28 survivors had been rescued by Sunday morning. Muscat put the number of survivors at 50, and International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millmafrom Top News on RSS Feeds http://ift.tt/1DzrTCr
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