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By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 11 February 2015:
Just two days after 29 migrants died of hypothermia after being rescued by the . . .[restrict]Italian coast guard in the Mediterranean, International Office of Migration (IOM) and UNHCR officials say they fear that another 300 migrants have died trying to make the crossing from Libya to Italy.
Based on reports from nine survivors who made it to shore today, four dinghies set out from Libya on Saturday, each carrying between 100 and 110 people, some of them children. The migrants were from Senegal, Gambia, the Ivory Coast and Mali.
One of the boats sent out a distress signal and was intercepted by the Italian coast guard on Monday, resulting in the rescue of 106 in the midst of high seas and bad weather. However, as reported on Monday, 29 migrants died of hypothermia before reaching shore.
Some of the survivors reaching land today reported seeing one of the dinghies capsize, with all lives lost. In total, some 300 from the original four dinghies are feared dead.
The migrants were attempting to reach Italy’s Lampedusa Island, approximately 70 miles from Tunisia’s coast. People have been attempting the trip in record numbers. The year 2014 witnessed the highest numbers yet. This year looks to be the same, with more migrants making the journey in January 2015 than in the same month last year.
Many in the aid community are protesting that Italy should never have abandoned its Mare Nostrum search and rescue patrols. They were replaced by an EU border force called Triton which has fewer and smaller vessels.
IOM, however, puts the blame for these deaths squarely on the smugglers, indicating that these are the ones who have the criminal responsibility for sending these migrants to their deaths. [/restrict]
