As many as 700 migrants feared drowned in Mediterranean
Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:16pm GMT
(adds details, quotes from UNHCR)
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - More than 700 people fleeing Africa and the
Middle East may have drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the
last week, bringing the death toll this year to almost 3,000, the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.
In the worst incident, as many as 500 migrants are believed to have died
after traffickers rammed their ship off Malta's coast last week, an event
that only came to light this weekend in testimony from two of nine
survivors.
The survivors said the traffickers ordered the migrants to change vessels in
the middle of the Mediterranean. The migrants refused, leading to a
confrontation that ended when traffickers rammed the ship carrying the
migrants, causing it to sink, IOM spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told
Reuters in Geneva.
"Some 500 people were on board - Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians and
Sudanese. They were trying to reach Europe," Berthiaume said.
"That means that 700 people perished at sea these last days in the
Mediterranean, the deadliest incidents in the space of a few days," she
said.
The vessel had set off on Saturday, Sept 6 from Damiette, Egypt, and sank
off Malta's coast on Sept 10th, she said, adding that some of the survivors
were only rescued on Friday.
The U.N. refugee agency also learned of the shipwreck off Malta, but said
its information was that it occurred on Friday. The UNHCR could not confirm
the circumstances of the incident but understood that the death toll was
closer to 300.
"We don't have confirmation of this account of alleged ramming. That was
given to Malta authorities by survivors, but we can't confirm it," said
UNHCR spokesman Francis Markus.
The UNHCR was trying to get confirmation of five shipwrecks in all. "At
least 500 people have died or are missing in the last three days", he said.
'DEADLIEST WEEKEND EVER'
"It was without any doubt the deadliest weekend ever in the Mediterranean,"
Carlotta Sami of the UNHCR said.
In the incident off Malta, nine people survived and were picked up boats,
Berthiaume said. IOM officials interviewed two Palestinian survivors in
Sicily, Italy, while other survivors were taken to Malta and to Crete,
Greece, she said.
Another ship packed with up to 250 African emigrants sank off the Libyan
coast, and most of them are feared dead, a spokesman for the Libyan navy
said late on Sunday. Some 26 people survived.
Migrants have been streaming out of North Africa, mostly lawless Libya, in
rickety boats in rising numbers for years. Many head for Italy, a gateway to
the European Union (EU).
"A combination of factors have led to a major increase. They do not have
other very easy options to get anywhere else from Libya. They are not able
to get to surrounding countries in North Africa from Libya. These are all
factors pushing up the number of people desperate to make the crossing who
are preyed on by unscrupulous traffickers," Markus said.
Some 130,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, compared
with 60,000 last year, according to the UNHCR. Italy has received more than
118,000, most of them rescued at sea under its naval operation Mare Nostrum.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and UNHCR special envoy
Angelina Jolie visited the naval rescue headquarters in Malta on Sunday,
meeting survivors, the agency said in a statement issued on Monday.
"Amidst concerns about the sustainability of the Italian Mare Nostrum
operation, they also called for increased efforts by European nations to
contribute to rescue efforts and reduce deaths at sea," the UNHCR said.
Half of those arriving in Europe by boat are refugees from Syria and
Eritrea, according to the agency.
"We all need to wake up to the scale of this crisis. There is a direct link
between the conflicts in Syria and elsewhere and the rise in deaths at sea
in the Mediterranean," Jolie said.
"Unless we address the root causes of these conflicts, the numbers of
refugees dying or unable to find protection will continue to rise," she
said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Ralph Boulton)