United Nations officials said on Tuesday that 245 migrants were feared dead in two shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea. The death toll represents a major increase in an already grim tally this year.
More than 1,300 people are now estimated to have died
while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in 2017, most while
attempting to reach Italy from Libya or Tunisia, according to the
International Organization for Migration. Last year, 5,098 people died
that way.
The
two recent shipwrecks occurred on Friday and Sunday, though details
about the extent of the loss of life were not released until Tuesday.
On
Friday night, a rubber dinghy sank after several hours at sea, with 132
people on board. Of those, 50 were rescued and taken on Sunday to
Pozzallo, Sicily; an additional 82 were believed to have died.
On Sunday, another shipwreck was reported, this one off the coast of Libya. The International Medical Corps,
which works with the United Nations refugee agency, reported that one
woman and six men had been rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard, but that
163 people were feared dead.
Tens
of thousands of people — 43,000 so far this year — continue to brave
treacherous waters to try to reach Italy. It has become the major route
for people fleeing war and poverty in North or West Africa, and in some
cases further east.
In contrast, the flow of migrants across the Aegean Sea, from Turkey to Greece, has significantly slowed — though not entirely stopped — since Turkey and the European Union reached a deal in March 2016 to try to contain that part of the crisis.
The
United Nations refugee agency, in a statement on Tuesday, described “an
urgent need to address the root causes which lead people to move, as
well as to offer credible alternatives to these dangerous crossings for
people in need of international protection, including accessible and
safe ways to reach Europe such as family reunification, relocation and
resettlement.”
No comments:
Post a Comment