Hundreds of migrants perished in boat’s hold

It is feared up to 200 migrants may have drowned after an overcrowded boat they were on capsized in the Mediterranean.

The migrants drowned when the boat flipped over as the Irish navy ship LE Niamh approached.

The UN refugee agency said about 600 people were on board the boat Wednesday when it capsized as it made its way to Europe. Those who were on top of the vessel jumped into the water and were rescued, while the migrants who were travelling in the boat’s hull were trapped inside. Six other survivors were taken by helicopter to hospitals, and 26 bodies have been recovered.

North African men suspected of multiple murders and human trafficking over Wednesday’s presumed drowning of 200 people.

Several Syrians were among those rescued, including a pregnant woman who at first appeared in danger of miscarriage.

“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.

When water started flooding the hold and people tried to get on deck, smugglers “armed with knives blocked their escape”, the IOM said. With oppression, civil disorder, and chaos enveloping the many countries these migrants are forced to abandon, they attempt a perilous journey to an imagined better life, often at the risk of their own lives.

Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum?

The incident is reminiscent of a similar tragedy of parallel proportions reported by the Inquisitr in April when many migrants lost their lives en route from Libya to Italy. Only 28 survivors were found.

Another boat Dignity1, run by the charity MSF (Medecins sans Frontiers or Doctors Without Borders), was the second vessel on site and also helped rescue people from the water. Political instability in Libya in the wake of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s 2011 ousting has attracted migrants from around Africa and the Middle East to the country, which has a long Mediterranean coastline that is now under-policed.

William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that by the end of July, around 224,000 refugees had arrived in Europe by sea.