webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2011
All rights reserved
From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon May 09 2011 - 10:49:54 EDT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13332536
9 May 2011 Last updated at 08:38 ET
Nato denies letting 61 migrants die in drifting boat
Nato has denied claims by a British newspaper that its naval units left
dozens of migrants aboard a drifting boat in the Mediterranean to die.
It said it was unaware of the plight of the boat, which reportedly was
adrift for more than two weeks.
The Guardian newspaper said 61 of the 72 people on board the boat died of
hunger or thirst, despite being spotted by a military helicopter and Nato
ship.
The migrants had left Tripoli in Libya, hoping to make it to Italy.
But they ran out of fuel before making it to their destination, and their
food and water ran out soon afterwards.
The *Guardian quotes a man, Abu Kurke*, who it says was aboard the boat.
"Every morning we would wake up and find more bodies, which we would leave
for 24 hours and then throw overboard," he said.
The dead included mothers and babies, he added.
*'Water dropped'*
Those on board the boat made contact with a priest in Italy, *Father Mussie
Zerai*, who often plays a key role assisting migrants who hit trouble. They
called him on 26 March, the day after they set sail.
He confirmed to the BBC that he had alerted Italian coastguards, who said
they would take action. But he lost contact with the boat when its phone
battery went dead.
Abu Kurke said that shortly afterwards a helicopter appeared and dropped
bottles of water and packets of biscuits onto the boat - but that after
that, no further help arrived.
At one point - on 29 or 30 March, the Guardian says - the boat drifted close
to an aircraft carrier. Survivors contacted by the paper said two jets took
off and flew low overhead, while the migrants held two starving babies
aloft. But no effort was made to assist them.
The Guardian said its inquiries suggested the ship must have been the French
aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
*Rescue operations*
However, Nato said in a statement: "Only one aircraft carrier was under Nato
command on those dates, the Italian ship Garibaldi. Throughout the period in
question, the Garibaldi was operating over 100 nautical miles out to sea.
Therefore, any claims that a Nato aircraft carrier spotted and then ignored
the vessel in distress are wrong."
The Nato statement referred to the fact that the boat was supposed to be in
"an unspecified location between Tripoli and Lampedusa" - and not 100 miles
out to sea.
Nato said its vessels were fully aware of their responsibilities to assist
vessels in distress - and indeed had rescued more than 500 people in two
incidents off Tripoli on 26-27 March.
Up to 30,000 people are thought to have made the journey from Libya and
Tunisia to Italy - usually the small Italian island of Lampedusa - so far
this year, driven by civil unrest and enabled by a collapse in emigration
controls.
Italy has called for help in dealing with the influx.
This weekend, more than 400 migrants from Libya had to be rescued by Italian
coastguards after their fishing boat hit rocks on the small island of
Lampedusa.
TV images of the dramatic night-time rescue showed some migrants jumping or
falling into the sea.
On Sunday Pope Benedict XVI urged people in Catholic Italy to show more
tolerance towards migrants from north Africa.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----