Yahoo – AFP,
Angus MacKinnon, 19 April 2015
In this
video grab released by the Italian Coast Guard on April 19, 2015, a
helicopter
and a ship take part in a rescue operation off the coast of Sicily
following a
shiprwreck last night (AFP Photo)
|
Rome (AFP)
- More than 700 people are feared to have drowned after an overcrowded boat
smuggling them to Europe capsized off Libya, officials said Sunday, prompting
demands for the European Union to react to the Mediterranean's deadliest
migrant disaster to date.
Italy's
coastguard, which was coordinating the search for survivors and bodies, said
only 28 people had survived a wreck that triggered fresh calls from Pope
Francis and others for European leaders to act over what many saw as an
avoidable tragedy.
The UN
refuguee agency (UNHCR) said survivors' testimonies suggested there had been
around 700 people on board the 20-metre (70-foot) fishing boat when it keeled
over in darkness overnight, officials said.
A boat
transporting migrants arrives in
the port of Messina after a rescue
operation
on April 18, 2015 in Sicily
(AFP Photo/Giovanni Isolino)
|
A
Bangladeshi survivor who was helicoptered to hospital in Sicily put the numbers
on board at 950 and said 200 women and children and nearly 50 children had been
among them, according to prosecutors in the city of Catania.
As Italy
demanded an emergency summit of European Union leaders, the bloc's foreign
ministers tabled talks on the issue for Monday. Anger among NGOs was underlined
by Amnesty International, which described the disaster as a predictable
"man-made tragedy".
View
galleryA boat transporting migrants arrives in the port
of …
A boat
transporting migrants arrives in the port of Messina after a rescue operation
on April 18, 20 …
Coastal
authorities in Italy and Malta picked up a distress signal from the stricken
vessel around midnight (2200 GMT) on Saturday, when it was still in Libyan
waters.
The Italian
coastguard instructed a nearby merchant ship to provide assistance and it was
when the Portuguese-registered King Jacob arrived at the scene that the fishing
boat capsized, most likely as a result of the terrified passengers stampeding
to one side in their desperation to get off, the UNHCR's Sami said.
Italian,
Maltese and merchant boats scoured the area for survivors but only 24 bodies
were recovered. They were due to arrive in Malta on Monday morning while
survivors are being taken to Sicily.
Italian
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the coastguard would seek to salvage the boat
and ensure any corpses recovered from it were given a decent funeral.
EU foreign
policy chief Federica Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister, called the
disaster a stain on the EU's conscience.
A boat
transporting migrants arrives in
the port of Messina after a rescue
operation
on April 18, 2015 in Sicily
(AFP Photo/Giovanni Isolino)
|
The UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, added: "This disaster
confirms how urgent it is to restore a robust rescue-at-sea operation and
establish credible legal avenues to reach Europe. Otherwise people seeking
safety will continue to perish at sea."
Worst
tragedy yet
The
disaster was the latest in a growing catalogue of mass drownings of migrants
attempting to reach Europe on overcrowded, unseaworthy boats run by people
smugglers who are able to operate out of Libya with impunity because of the
chaos engulfing the north African state.
The
deadliest incident prior to Sunday occurred off Malta in September 2014. An
estimated 500 migrants drowned in a shipwreck caused by traffickers
deliberately ramming the boat in an attempt to force the people on board onto
another, smaller vessel.
View
galleryMigrants sit in a boat during a rescue operation
off …
Migrants
sit in a boat during a rescue operation off the coast of Sicily in 2014 (AFP
Photo/-)
In October
2013, more than 360 Africans perished when the tiny boat they were crammed onto
caught fire within sight of the coast of Lampedusa.
That
tragedy was described at the time as a wake-up call to the world but 18 months
later there is no sign of a let-up in the numbers attempting the perilous
crossing in search of a better life in Europe.
The latest
disaster comes after a week in which two other migrant shipwrecks left an
estimated 450 people dead.
If the
worst fears about Sunday's tragedy are confirmed, it will take the death toll
since the start of 2015 to more than 1,600.
More than 11,000 other would-be immigrants have been rescued since the middle of last week and current trends suggest last year's total of 170,000 migrants landing in Italy is likely to be exceeded in 2015.
Migrants
sit in a boat during a rescue operation off the coast of Sicily
in 2014 (AFP
Photo)
|
More than 11,000 other would-be immigrants have been rescued since the middle of last week and current trends suggest last year's total of 170,000 migrants landing in Italy is likely to be exceeded in 2015.
Avoidable
deaths?
Pope
Francis urged EU leaders to "act decisively and quickly to stop these
tragedies from recurring".
Amnesty's
John Dalhuisen called Sunday's accident a "man-made tragedy of appalling
proportions."
"These
latest deaths at sea come as a shock, but not a surprise."
Amnesty is
among NGOs calling for the restoration of an Italian navy search-and-rescue
operation known as Mare Nostrum which was suspended at the end of last year.
Italy
scaled back the mission after failing to persuade its European partners to help
meet its operating costs of nine million euros ($9.7 million) a month amid
divisions over whether the mission was unintentionally encouraging migrants to
attempt the crossing.
Mare
Nostrum has been replaced by a much smaller EU-run operation called Triton.
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