http://www.thelocal.it/20140512/several-dead-as-migrant-boat-sinks-off-italy-report
More than ten dead as migrant boat sinks
Published: 12 May 2014 14:12 GMT+02:00
Updated: 12 May 2014 16:00 GMT+02:00
<
http://www.thelocal.it/page/view/tag/>*Italy's coast guard said 200 people
were rescued on Monday after a boat packed with migrants sank in the
Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, with Italian media reporting that at
least ten people also died.*
The coast guard said the rescue was being carried out by two
commercial ships that were scrambled to the area, some 100 nautical miles
(185 kilometres) south of Lampedusa island, Italy's southernmost point.
"Two-hundred people have been rescued," a coast guard spokesman told AFP.
He said he could not confirm or deny Italian media reports of 400 people
on board.
A spokeswoman for the navy, which is involved in a large operation
to rescue migrants and deter traffickers, said: "There are probably
victims".
The navy said it had dispatched a helicopter and two warships "at
maximum speed" to give assistance.
The Italian news agency ANSA said "several bodies" had been recovered
and other media quoted coast guards on Lampedusa saying at least seven
people had died. The coast guard and navy could not confirm the reports.
Italian daily La Repubblica said the boat sank around 50 nautical miles
north of the Libyan coast.
The report said Italy's coast guard was alerted to the incident by the
crew of a ship involved in offshore oil extraction in the area.
A Libyan navy spokesman, Colonel Ayub Kassem, said Libya "does not have
the means to help with this shipwreck, which took place in international
waters".
Kassem said he could not confirm that the migrant boat had departed
from Libya.
*'Europe's turn to pay' *
In another migrant boat shipwreck on Tuesday that was reported by the
Libyan navy on Sunday, 36 migrants died and 42 were missing. A naval
spokesman said that 52 people were rescued.
More than 400 migrants drowned in twin tragedies off Lampedusa last year
and immigration charities estimate that up to 20,000 migrants have died at
sea trying to reach Europe over the past 20 years.
In the wake of the tragedy, the Italian navy launched "Mare Nostrum" - a
Latin reference to the Mediterranean - a large-scale operation that
anti-immigration politicians in Rome have accused of assisting irregular
migration in Europe.
Hundreds of migrants have been landing in Italy on an almost daily basis in
recent weeks, many of them now being picked up on Italian warships.
Most of the immigrants come from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria and arrive on
rickety fishing boats from Libya.
Libya's interim interior minister said on Saturday that Tripoli could
"facilitate" those people seeking to get to Europe illegally unless the
European Union helped it combat the problem.
"I'm warning the world and Europe in particular -- if they do not assume
their responsibilities, Libya could facilitate the transit of this flood"
of immigrants towards Europe, Salah Mazek told a news conference.
He said Libya was "suffering" because thousands of mainly sub-Saharan
Africans were spreading disease, crime and drugs in the North African
nation.
"Libya has paid the price. Now it's Europe's turn to pay," Mazek added.
Received on Mon May 12 2014 - 10:21:05 EDT