Mediterranean boat death toll ‘will rise considerably’

A capsized boat killed at least 25 migrants Wednesday in the Mediterranean Sea.

An overcrowded fishing boat doubling up as a migrant boat in the Mediterranean capsized Wednesday about 15 miles north of Libya.

The Italian coastguard said around 370 people were saved by rescue ships from the Italian and Irishnavies and humanitarian agency Medecins sans Frontiers.

An Irish naval official told the Associated Press that about 150 migrants were spotted in the water.

“It was a horrific sight, people desperately clinging to lifebelts, boats and anything they could, fighting for their lives, amidst people drowning and those who had already died”, said Juan Matías, project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders on the Dignity I.

“It is probably the same boat”, coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini said, raising fears that hundreds of people may have drowned.

“The Irish vessel LE Niamh was present in the area, as part of the EU-sponsored operations dealing with migration at sea”, he said, adding that it approached the migrant boat after picking up a distress signal. Numerous people on board the vessel were Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war.

“People know the dangers when they board these boats yet our teams have rescued children as young as two months old from the Med”.

Earlier, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said EU governments had a duty to help migrants trying to reach Europe and not give in to “populist” demands to refuse them entry.

“As in 2014, the overwhelming majority died in the Channel of Sicily on the Central Mediterranean route connecting Libya and Italy, where unseaworthy vessels used by smugglers and traffickers significantly increase the likelihood of tragedies occurring”, the organization said.

The Mediterranean Sea is the world’s most deadly border area for migrants.

“I think the important point to remember in all of this is had those 20 boats arrived, 200 boats or 2,000 boats would have followed them”, Dutton said.

Wednesday’s migrant disaster was likely to be the biggest one since around 800 people drowned in a single accident when their boat sunk in April off the Libyan coast.

It is believed too many people may have moved to one side of the fishing boat, causing it to overturn.

The 46 asylum seekers onboard were returned to Vietnam as a result of bilateral negotiations, Dutton said.