Up to 700 Feared Dead After Migrant Boat Sinks Off Libya

By Antonio Denti

PALERMO, Italy April 19 (Reuters) – As many as 700 migrants had been feared lifeless on Sunday after their boat capsized within the Mediterranean, elevating strain on Europe to face down anti-immigrant bias and discover cash for assist as turmoil in Libya and the Middle East worsens the disaster.

If the loss of life toll is confirmed, it’s going to carry to 1,500 the whole quantity of people that died this yr searching for to achieve Europe – a swelling exodus that prompted Europe to downsize its search and rescue border safety program in a bid to discourage them. International help teams strongly criticised the choice.

After information of Sunday’s catastrophe a number of authorities leaders known as for emergency talks and EU international coverage chief Federica Mogherini mentioned international ministers would focus on the immigration disaster at a gathering in Luxembourg on Monday. European Council President Donald Tusk mentioned he was contemplating calling a particular assembly of EU leaders, a summit that Renzi had known as for earlier.

Meanwhile Italian and international ships and helicopters labored into the evening to seek out doable survivors. So far 28 individuals have been rescued and 24 our bodies recovered, Italian authorities mentioned.

The 20 metre-long vessel sank 70 miles from the Libyan coast, south of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, as a big service provider ship approached it. A survivor instructed the United Nations’ refugee company UNHCR that 700 individuals on board, hopeful the ship would save them, moved to 1 aspect, toppling the boat.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi mentioned particulars had been nonetheless “nebulous” and that he couldn’t estimate the whole loss of life depend.

French President Francois Hollande mentioned the EU needed to do extra, telling Canal+ tv that rescue and catastrophe prevention efforts wanted “more boats, more over flights and a much more intense battle against people trafficking.”

“More EU countries must take responsibility for the refugee situation,” mentioned Sweden’s Minister for Justice and migration Morgan Johansson. He known as for an growth of the EU’s Triton border safety programme, the scheme that just lately changed a broader search and rescue mission run by Italy.

The Italian “Mare Nostrum” was cancelled final yr due to the fee and since some politicians mentioned it inspired migrants to depart by elevating their hopes of being rescued.

“It was an illusion to think that cutting off Mare Nostrum would prevent people from attempting this dangerous voyage,” mentioned the German authorities’s consultant for migration, refugees and integration, Aydan Ozoguz.

Yet Renzi warned that resolving the disaster was not solely a matter of search and rescue at sea. He mentioned a concerted worldwide effort was wanted to find and cease individuals traffickers, lots of whom have flourished through the chaos amongst warring clans in Libya.

“We mustn’t leave the migrants at the mercy of criminals who traffic human beings,” Renzi instructed the information convention. “We are asking not to be left alone.”

“LOOKING FOR A BETTER LIFE”

Carlotta Sami, a UNHCR spokeswoman, mentioned preliminary details about the capsized boat got here from one of many survivors who spoke English.

This survivor “said that at least 700 people, if not more, were on board. The boat capsized because people moved to one side when another vessel that they hoped would rescue them approached,” Sami mentioned.

She later added that “several sources confirm the death of at least 700 people.”

Renzi mentioned Italian and international navy and coast guard vessels, patrol boats and service provider ships, in addition to helicopters, had been concerned within the search-and-rescue operation, which was being coordinated by the Italian coast guard in Rome.

Maltese Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela mentioned the survivors and the corpses had been on an Italian naval vessel coming to Malta, from the place the survivors would proceed on to Italy.

Pope Francis, who has spoken out repeatedly on the migrant disaster, repeated his name for fast and decisive motion from the worldwide group.

“They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war. They were looking for a better life, they were looking for happiness,” he instructed tens of 1000’s of individuals in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday midday handle.

Aid teams have known as for the opening of a “humanitarian corridor” to make sure the protection of the migrants however in Italy there have been additionally calls to cease the boats from leaving and even to destroy them.

The chief of the anti-immigrant Northern League occasion, Matteo Salvini, known as for a direct naval blockade of the coast of Libya whereas Daniela Santanche, a outstanding member of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia occasion mentioned Italy’s navy should “sink all the boats.”

Libya’s lawless state, following the toppling of former chief Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has left prison gangs of migrant smugglers free to ship a stream of boats carrying determined migrants from Africa and the Middle East.

Around 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this yr, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates. That is fewer than within the first 4 months of final yr, however the variety of deaths has risen nearly nine-fold.

Last week, round 400 migrants had been reported to have died trying to achieve Italy from Libya when their boat capsized .

“A tragedy is unfolding in the Mediterranean, and if the EU and the world continue to close their eyes, it will be judged in the harshest terms as it was judged in the past when it closed its eyes to genocides when the comfortable did nothing,” Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat mentioned. (Additional reporting by Philip Pullella, Paolo Biondi and Gavin Jones in Rome, Robin Emmott in Brussels, Chris Scicluna in Malta, Noah Barkin in Berlin, Laurence Frost in Paris,; writing by James Mackenzie and Gavin Jones; modifying by Alessandra Galloni and Sophie Walker)