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Three migrants drown off Tunisian coast, dozens missing
TUNIS, May 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A boat carrying around 70 migrants from
sub-Saharan Africa has sunk in the Mediterranean, leaving three people dead
and dozens missing, Tunisian officials said Friday.
The bodies of three people who drowned in the incident were found Friday, a
spokesman for the Tunisian defence ministry said, adding the boat left Zuwara
on the northwestern Libyan coast on Thursday.
A fishing boat picked up 16 survivors, who were transferred on board one of
three military vessels involved in the search and rescue operation, said
spokesman Mohamed Zekri.
A Maltese helicopter was also mobilised, he said.
According to those rescued, between 60 to 70 people from sub-Saharan Africa
were thought to be on board, Zekri added.
Interior ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag said however around 75 people were
believed to have been on board the Italy-bound boat when it left Libya.
The Red Crescent said there could have been as many as 90 passengers on
board the ill-fated vessel, which could indicate a much steeper death toll.
“We will probably never know the exact number of those who died,” said
Mongi Slim, a Red Crescent official in the southern Tunisian town of Zarzis,
where those rescued were taken.
Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has vowed to close the
country’s ports to migrants, although earlier Friday dozens who had been
rescued at sea disembarked in Sicily.
Rome’s populist government has taken an increasingly hard line on
migration, and Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League party, last month
signed a new directive banning charity vessels from rescuing migrants off
Libya.
– ‘World’s deadliest sea crossing’ –
The UN agency for refugees UNHCR meanwhile called for stepped up search and
rescue operations to avoid future tragedies in the Mediterranean, which it
calls the “world’s deadliest sea crossing”.
“Across the region we need to strengthen the capacity of search and rescue
operations,” said Vincent Cochetel, the agency’s special envoy for the
Mediterranean.
“If we don’t act now, we’re almost certain to see more tragic events in the
coming weeks and months,” he warned.
According to the UNHCR, the journey across the Mediterranean “is becoming
increasingly fatal for those who risk it”.
“In the first four months of this year, one person has died (crossing the
Mediterranean) for every three that have reached European shores, after
departing from Libya,” it said. That is up from last year’s toll of one
person in 14, according to the UN refugee agency.
Libya, which has been wracked by chaos since the 2011 uprising that killed
veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi, has long been a major transit route for
people desperate to reach Europe.
Over the past week, and despite a surge in violence following the launch of
an assault on Tripoli by strongman Khalifa Haftar, Libyan authorities have
rescued hundreds of migrants stranded at sea.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 101 migrants
were returned to Libya on Friday, two days after Libyan coastguard
intercepted boats.
The UN and rights groups have repeatedly decried the conditions in which
migrants are held in Libya, where around 6,000 migrants are at detention
centres, according to the IOM.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights NGO has denounced what it
said were the European Union’s “restrictive and inhumane policies” which it
said led to the latest “human tragedy”.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1214 hrs