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Mediterranean migrant crisis: Many feared drowned as boat capsizes after leaving Libya Mediterranean migrant crisis: Hundreds feared drowned as boat capsizes after leaving Libya
(about 5 hours later)
A major rescue operation is underway and many people are feared drowned after a small fishing boat carrying up to 700 migrants sank off the coast of Libya. Hundreds of refugees and migrants are feared drowned after a boat carrying up to 700 people became the latest to capsize in the Mediterranean.
The incident was reported by Irish navy officials, who told the Associated Press a number of ships and Italian military helicopters were being deployed to try and save lives. “It was a horrific sight, people desperately clinging to lifebelts, boats and anything they could to fight for their lives, amidst people drowning and those who had already died,” said Juan Matías, Médecins Sans Frontières project co-ordinator on the charity’s rescue ship, Dignity I.
The Italian Coast Guard have said that around 400 of the passengers have been saved, and around 25 bodies have been discovered so far. Up to 700 people were thought to have been on board the vessel when it overturned and only about 400 had been rescued, the Italian Coast Guard and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said.
Some 150 migrants were spotted in the water, Captain Donal Gallagher of the LÉ Niamh said. The disaster happened as a merchant ship and an Irish naval vessel were approaching to give assistance.
An Italian coastguard spokesman said the overcrowded boat went over just as ships were approaching to rescue its passengers, but was unable to provide details on the numbers involved. An Irish naval commander told state broadcaster RTE: “Our worst fear was realised when the ship capsized before our very eyes.”
Captain Gallagher estimated around 600 on board in total, while the SkyNews24 TV channel reported it as around 700. More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died so far this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 deaths during the whole of last year, the International Organisation for Migration said.
More than 2,000 migrants have died already this year as the Mediterranean crisis worsens, compared with 3,279 deaths during the whole of last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration. It makes the sea the most deadly border area in the world for migrants. MSF said in a statement that the “latest tragedy in the Mediterranean... underscores the severe lack of adequate search and rescue operations in the area”.
The Irish vessel LÉ Niamh was one of several ships requested by the Italian coastguard to speed to the rescue, Capt Gallagher said. It added that “hundreds of people may have drowned”.
Also involved in the rescue were an Italian vessel and a boat operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The charity called for “an increase in safe, legal routes to give people fleeing war, conflict and violence,  meaningful, accessible alternatives to life-threatening journeys on land and  at sea”.
The distressed vessel was reported to be about 75 miles north west of Tripoli, Libya's capital. Andre Heller Perache, of Médecins Sans Frontières UK, said: “The majority of people crossing the Mediterranean are fleeing war, conflict and violence – they are running for their lives, and we force them to risk their lives all over again.
More follows “There are almost no safe, legal ways for people to reach Europe, which forces people to take dangerous journeys on land, and perilous journeys  at sea.
“People know the dangers when they board these boats yet our teams have rescued children as young as two months old from the Med.
“Imagine the desperation you would need to feel as a mother or a father to board a dangerously overcrowded boat with such a  young child.”