Thousands of migrants keep swamping Italy, with 142,000 arrivals estimated
since the beginning of this year. However, an estimated 3,100 people have
perished in the Mediterranean Sea during the same period. In the latest of the
migrant surge, about 4,655 migrants were saved on Tuesday and 28 bodies
recovered in more than 30 rescue missions off the Libyan coast, Italy’s coast
guard said on Wednesday.
Italy’s The Local newspaper gave a death toll of 22
migrants, quoting a witness report by an AFP
photographer. They were found dead Tuesday in an
overloaded wooden boat off Libya. Most of the dead were
Africans. Their nationalities were not disclosed in the
reports.
The AFP Photographer Aris Messinis, who was able to go on board the vessel,
said many of the dead had suffocated. “It was a wooden vessel and there were
about 1,000 people on three levels. I counted 22 bodies and there are still
others in the hold,” he said by telephone. Messinis was travelling on the Astral,
a ship chartered by Spanish NGO ProActiva Open Arms, which rescues migrants
at sea.
Towards 2000 GMT the Astral rescuers moved back to allow the Italian navy to
take care of the survivors and retrieve the bodies, the photographer said. The
deaths came after the Italian coastguard – which is coordinating rescue efforts
in international waters north of Libya – said at least 1,800 migrants were
rescued off the Libyan coast on Tuesday.
It was yet another day of drama at sea after more than 6,000 migrants, most of
them Africans in packed rubber dinghies, were rescued off Libya on
Monday. Nine bodies were found in those operations, including a pregnant
woman. The Italian coastguard said operations had been carried out on
Tuesday to bring migrants to safety from some 30 packed boats.
With numerous rescue boats en route to Italy to unload the huge human cargo
collected on Monday, Messinis said the Astral was left alone to deal with the
overloaded wooden boat for several hours. It was aided only by lifeboats
dropped by a Spanish military plane until the navy arrived at midday.
“There was panic onboard, there were people jumping into the water,” Messinis
said. More than 10,000 refugees have been picked up in just two days, as
people smugglers take advantage of calm weather to push boats to sea.
Over the same period, at least 50 people have died trying to make the
dangerous crossing.





Cc lalasticlala mynd44

Hmm

This One na Story! Bois must still enter libya

Africans and slave mentality. Some people who can work in cafeteria here will trek through desert and swim through sea to go do menial jobs there.