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Dozens dead as migrant boat sinks off coast of Libya Dozens dead as migrant boat sinks off coast of Libya
(about 5 hours later)
At least 40 people died and 51 others were rescued after a boat carrying mostly sub-Saharan African migrants sank off Libya's coast east of Tripoli, the Libyan government has said. Tom Kington Rome
The vessel appeared to have got into difficulty about 37 miles east of Tripoli, Rami Kaal, a spokesman for the Libyan ministry of interior said. Dozens of people died when their boat capsized off Libya on Sunday , adding further tragedy to a migrant season in which more than 100 people are believed to have perished in the Mediterranean in the past two weeks.
Libya's porous borders with its sub-Saharan neighbours and its proximity to Italy and Malta across the Mediterranean have made the north African country a common transit route for migrants trying to reach Europe. Libyan officials said the bodies of at least 24 migrants, including a pregnant woman, were found after a boat carrying 130 people capsized about 30 miles east of the capital Tripoli. More than 50 other passengers were still missing.
With their coastguard, navy and armed forces ill-equipped and still in training, Libyan officials want more help from western partners to stem the flow of illegal migrants trying to cross through Libya to Europe. Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Bilqassem said the bottom of the small boat gave in because of the crush of people on board, causing it to capsize. He said 52 people, mostly Africans, were rescued.
In March, Italy's navy rescued more than 4,000 migrants from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean sea south of Sicily in just four days. The latest deaths came as Libya's interior minister warned that Tripoli might start helping migrants get to Europe if the European Union did not take steps to deal with the migration crisis. "I'm warning the world and Europe in particular – if they do not assume their responsibilities, Libya could facilitate the transit of this flood," said Salah Mazek.
Many migrants pay more than $1,000 to criminal gangs for the sea journey from Libya, where the government struggles to control a country still full of weapons and brigades of former rebels since the civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In another incident, a Libyan coastguard report handed to the United Nations detailed a shipwreck on Tuesday in which 76 passengers from Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Senegal drowned.
Carlotta Sami, the southern European spokeswoman for the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said yesterday that the UN had been informed of an incident on Friday concerning a boat in the Mediterranean carrying at least 40 Eritreans.
"We heard of the SOS from Eritreans in Italy, but the boat had no satellite phone and could not give its location," she said. "We reported it to the Italian and Maltese navies, who were aware of it."
Aid officials have suggested that traffickers may be forcing migrants in Libya to risk using ever more rickety boats, knowing that Italian navy patrols are ready to save them in international waters.
The UN has received reports from the Libyan coastguard of two other recent sinkings in areas of Libyan waters that are not patrolled by Italian vessels.
On 30 April, the Libyan coastguard located the wreck of a vessel off the Libyan coast with one Somali survivor aboard who reported that 40 fellow passengers had drowned. On 2 May, the Libyan coastguard reported that it had saved 80 people from a sinking vessel, including Eritreans, Somalis and Ethiopians. Four corpses were found, the report said.
Father Mussie Zerai, a priest who works with migrants in Italy, said yesterday he had received information from relatives of survivors of a boat that sank last week in Libyan waters. "The sea was rough, the boat was overcrowded and there were more than 200 on board – many from Eritrea. They spoke of deaths but didn't quantify," he said.