Deutsche Welle, 12 October 2013
The second
migrant tragedy in just over a week in the Strait of Sicily has sharpened calls
to allow safe passage for asylum seekers. The most recent accidents have killed
at least 400 people.
A week of
tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea has prompted calls for action from the European Union to do more to prevent asylum seeker deaths.
"I
don't know how many more people need to die at sea before something gets done,"
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in an interview with the BBC.
"The
fact is that, as things stand, we are just building a cemetery within our
Mediterranean Sea," he added. "Until now we have encountered
statements, words but little more than that." Muscat vowed to join Italy
in lobbying for action at the next European Council meeting.
On Friday a
migrant boat sunk about 105 kilometers (65 miles) southeast of the island of
Lampedusa. Italian and Maltese rescuers found 34 bodies, and rescued more than
200 survivors. The boat was said to have capsized when passengers tried to
attract the attention of a passing Maltese aircraft.
Between
Thursday and Friday, the Italian coast guard also intervened to help some 85
migrants stranded on a dinghy south of Lampdesua and intercepted a boat with
183 people on board as it approached the island's port.
On October
3, a vessel carrying some 500 people, mostly Eritreans, sunk within sight of
the Lampedusa coast. Only 155 people survived, with the provisional death count
raised Saturday to 359, after rescuers found the bodies of 20 more victims.
On
Saturday, Italian authorities started transporting coffins out of a Lampedusa
airport hangar to take last week's dead to mainland Sicily, where Prime
Minister Enrico Letta has promised to give them a state funeral.
Urgent
calls for reform
With the
Italian coast guard bearing the brunt of rescue operations, politicans and
rescue officials have spoken out for more support. "Lampedusa cannot
manage: Europe must realize this," Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini told RAI
state television.
Francesco
Rocca, the president of the Italian Red Cross, called for safe routes for
people escaping war and repression: "Urgent measures must be adopted to
open humanitarian corridors. There is no time to lose.”
On
Saturday, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano echoed the need to
crackdown on smugglers: "We need to stop the merchants of death.”
According
to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 32,000 people have arrived in
southern Italy and Malta this year alone, about two-thirds of whom have filed
requests for asylum. Most migrants come from sub-Saharan Africa, but this year
an increased number have arrived from Syria and Egypt.
One step
has been taken by the EU to address the growing problem. On Thursday, the
European Parliament approved the Eurosur border surveillance system, which aims
to reduce the number of undetected migrants to the EU, including those who
arrive by boat.
hc/mkg (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)
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