Scores of migrants feared dead off Libya
In Aegean Sea off Turkey, at least 11 people die after boat sinks, media report
MADRID — Hundreds of migrants may have died off Libya’s coast, a Spanish aid organization said Friday, and Turkish media reported that 11 migrants died after a boat sank in the Aegean Sea.
Video footage from the Dogan news agency in Turkey showed a half-dozen covered bodies that were laid out near ambulances. The migrants’ boat, which, according to Reuters, was carrying 22 people, capsized near the Turkish resort town of Kusadasi and nine people were rescued, the Turkish Coast Guard Command said. It said two people, believed to be smugglers, were detained.
Concerns about the missing migrants near Libya rose after Spain’s Proactiva Open Arms group found five bodies near two capsized boats Thursday. Proactiva spokesman Laura Lanuza said the German aid organization Jugend Rettet found a sixth body in the area Friday.
The International Organization for Migrations said it had no
confirmation of the two boats mentioned by Proactiva near the Libyan coast but that it believed the bodies could be part of an earlier wreck. About 120 people were believed to be on board a smuggler’s boat that capsized Tuesday, the organization said, but only 54 people were rescued.
Meanwhile, the search for a third vessel reported missing in the area has so far proved futile.
Lanuza said their vessel was expected to arrive today at the Italian port of Catania to hand over the bodies of the five young men who had drowned. Other agencies, meanwhile, continued the search for more possible victims off Libya.
The United Nations refugee agency said it was “deeply alarmed” by the reports. Both it and Proactiva said they feared the death toll may be much higher as migrant dinghies are normally crammed with about 120 people each.
The UNHCR cited sources from nongovernmental organizations as saying the five floating corpses of the young men had been recovered 14 miles off the Libyan coast near two empty and partially submerged rubber dinghies.
Lanuza said the boats were found Thursday morning, north of the Libyan town of Sabratha. The five men, all of African origin, were estimated to be between 16 and 25 years old and appeared to have drowned, she said.
The Red Crescent in Libya and the Libyan coast guard said Friday that they had no reports about dead migrants or capsized boats in Libyan territorial waters.
The UNHCR said the latest incidents occurred after a busy week of arrivals across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, with almost 6,000 migrants and refugees rescued in just five days.
It said that so far this year about 21,903 people have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.
The agency said that since the beginning of 2017, and excluding the latest incidents, about 590 people have died or have disappeared in crossings.
Last year was the deadliest ever recorded with 5,096 migrants perishing or disappearing, according to the UNHCR.
Amnesty International called the European Union’s cooperation with the Libyan coast guard to intercept departing smuggling boats full of migrants as a “hopelessly blinkered approach” and urged European leaders to offer safe, legal routes for migrants to enter Europe.
“How high must the body count get before European governments accept that their current strategy isn’t working?” said the group’s deputy Europe director, Gauri Van Gulik.