Tripoli, 12 July:
Fifty-four migrants heading for Italy died of hunger and thirst when their inflatable boat ruptured in the Mediterranean, the . . .[restrict]UN refugee agency said yesterday.
According to the sole survivor, Abbes Settou, 55 people boarded the vessel in Tripoli in late June and more than half were Eritrean, including himself.
Settou, who drank sea water to survive, was spotted clinging to a jerry can and the remains of the boat off the Tunisian coast on Monday night by fishermen who alerted the authorities.
As well as Eritreans, there were also believed to have been a number of Somalis on board. Settou said the boat had been at sea for 15 days in Total.
“He’s in a pretty awful state and he’s obviously gone through a terrible, terrible experience progressively watching his family members dying”, said UNHCR spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes.
“This is a tragedy,” said T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. “I call upon all vessels at sea to be on heightened alert for migrants and refugees needing rescue in the Mediterranean.”
The UN agency estimates that 170 people have been declared dead or lost at sea attempting to make the journey from Libya to Europe so far this year. [/restrict]
