Nearly 3,000 dead in Mediterranean already this year -IOM

Fri Jul 22, 2016 1:31pm GMT

* Death toll hits 3,000 earlier than in last three years

* Three out of four died en route from Libya to Italy (Adds details, quotes, byline)

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, July 22 (Reuters) - Nearly 3,000 migrants and refugees have perished in the Mediterranean Sea already this year while almost 250,000 have reached Europe, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday.

The estimated death toll could put 2016 on track to be the deadliest year of the migration crisis. Last year the same landmark was only reached in October, by which time nearly one million people had crossed into Europe.

"This is the earliest that we have seen the 3,000 (deaths) mark, this occurred in September of 2014 and October of 2015," IOM spokesman Joel Millman told a briefing. "So for this to be happening even before the end of July is quite alarming."

Three out of four victims this year died while trying to reach Italy from North Africa, mostly Libya, a longer and more dangerous route. The others drowned between Turkey and Greece before that flow dried up with the March deal on migrants between Turkey and the European Union.

Nearly 2,500 fatalities have occurred since late March, with about 20 migrants dying each day along the route from Libya to Italy, Millman said. Most are from West Africa and the Horn of Africa, although they may include people from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Morocco.

"The (Libyan) coast guard has had some luck turning back voyages from Libya. We've heard in the last six weeks a number of cases where they have been able to turn boats back.

"They (have also been) recovering bodies at an alarming rate," Millman said.

Some 84,052 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy so far this year, almost exactly the same number as in the same period a year before, he said.

That indicated departures from Libya were at "maximum capacity" due to a limited number of boats deemed seaworthy.

But there is "a very robust market of used fishing vessels and things coming from Tunisia and Egypt that are finding their way to brokers in Tripoli," Millman said. "And you can actually go to shipyards where people are trying to repair boats as fast as they can to get more migrants on the sea."

Migrants in Libya are often held in detention centres, some run by criminal gangs and militias, he said. IOM officials seek access to detainees and authorisation for their repatriation.

"There's no question that in some of this range of detention (centres) there are people in league with smugglers who are moving people towards the smugglers," Millman said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Catherine Evans)

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Bodies of migrants brought to Italy; survivors tell of struggle

Fri Jul 22, 2016 4:06pm GMT

By Crispian Balmer

ROME, July 22 (Reuters) - The bodies of 21 women and one man were brought ashore to Sicily on Friday as fellow migrants described scenes of panic and violence when water poured into their dinghy.

Some survivors had bite marks, testimony to a desperate struggle onboard to escape death.

The stricken boat was discovered floating off the coast of Libya on Wednesday, with humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) rescuing about 104 survivors and retrieving the badly disfigured corpses.

People on the rubber dinghy said human traffickers in Libya had pushed too many migrants aboard and the floor had split after the boat put to sea, proving a death trap for young women who had been sitting in the central section.

"I kept asking for help. Nobody would help. They were climbing on me to stay out of the water. I thought I would die," a 24-year-old Nigerian woman named Mary told MSF.

"I had to bite to be able to breathe. The woman I bit stood up. Men were standing on top of me. A woman stood on my face ... A woman who was pregnant died. We were under the water together."

Erna Rijnierse, an MSF doctor who was aboard the rescue ship, the MV Aquarius, said there was an eerie silence when they neared the dinghy and it was obvious there had been a struggle.

"You can tell it from the nail scratches on people's arms and legs, but also we had 10 people with human bites on arms, a back and also on the lower back and ankles," she said.

Nearly 3,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year while trying to reach Europe - three quarters of them en route from north Africa to Italy, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday.

Just over 80,000 people, mainly from Africa, have reached Italy since Jan. 1, more or less in line with last year's numbers, according to official figures.

Mary told MSF she had been held in prison in Libya - immigrants are often arrested there - for two months before finding a place on the dinghy. Rijnierse said she believed many of the victims had been detained prior to the trip and were too weak to fight their way off the floor.

"They rape there. They are looking for young girls, you cannot say no, they have guns, shout, speak in their language," Mary said, describing her ordeal in the prison before she managed to escape and meet up with her husband.

Another survivor, a 30-year-old man called David from Nigeria, urged would-be migrants not to make the journey.

"Taking the boat is very dangerous. That is the truth," he said, adding: "I feel bad about the women who died. It wasn't supposed to happen." (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

(Reuters): Nearly 3,000 dead in Mediterranean already this year -IOM

Nearly 3,000 dead in Mediterranean already this year -IOM

Bodies of migrants brought to Italy; survivors tell of struggle