More than 200 migrant feared dead in latest Mediterranean boat tragedy

ROME (AP) – Survivors of a migrant boat that capsized off Libya as rescuers approached told investigators that smugglers armed with knives forced people to stay in the trawler’s hold, increasing fears that more than 200 had been trapped inside and drowned, officials in Sicily said Friday.

Irish navy vessel Le Niamh, which was first on the scene of Wednesday’s disaster, arrived in Palermo, Italy, with the survivors, including 12 women and 13 children, as well as the dead.

Police say migrants were beaten and stabbed during the voyage, with many locked in the hold.

The LÉ Niamh also brought 25 bodies into Palermo.

Also on Wednesday, 94 people on board a rubber boat were rescued in a separate operation, coastguards said.

A fishing boat filled to the brim with migrants capsized off the coast of Libya yesterday (Aug. 5), in the latest tragedy in Europe’s ongoing migrant crisis.

This time, we’re talking about 600 or so people, including kids.

“The most important thing is that people feel listened to because they are completely disorientated, they have lost their bearings in a country they do not know, so having something which reminds them of their culture, something familiar, is fundamental”. Italian police today arrested five men believed to be responsible for the shipwreck that may have claimed up to 200 lives. Among those reaching for help was a Palestinian couple, desperate to rescue their 19-month-old daughter.

Coast guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said the rescue operation, involving seven ships, was still underway several hours after the capsizing.

“It is unlikely that more survivors will be found”, said Martin Xuereb of the Malta-based private rescue mission MOAS, which took part in the rescue.

Traffickers have sent more than 90,000 migrants by sea to Italy so far this year, the UN refugee agency says.

According to IOM, these figures confirm that “the route across the Mediterranean is the most deadly for migrants”, a development which has intensified over the last six months.

“European governments must do more to provide safe and legal ways for people in need of protection to enter the European Union, rather than risking their lives at sea in their thousands”, the Amnesty global human rights group said in a statement.

Projected as one of the largest waves of mass immigration since the Second World War, this enormous predicament being confronted by the EU will most likely linger; further exacerbated by geopolitical realities laced with bitter internecine conflicts.