At least 40 migrants dead at sea, 300 others rescued

At least 40 migrants have died in the hold of an overcrowded smuggling boat north of Libya, thought to have been killed by fuel fumes.

“The dead were found in the hold”, Commander Massimo Tozzi, speaking from the navy ship Cigala Fulgosi that acted as the rescue ship.

The navy said because the rescue was still ongoing it couldn’t give exact numbers of dead. At least 2,300 people including many children have been reported to have lost their lives while attempting the unsafe crossing.

The migrants from Middle Eastern and African countries arriving in Europe, especially in Italy, are mixed, with some fleeing conflicts and persecution, and others seeking to escape poverty, starvation and land degradation.

Tozzi told an Italian TV station that the migrants apparently died “from inhaling exhaust fumes”.

Admiral Pierpaolo Libuffo, head of Italy’s rescue operations, said 312 survivors had been taken on board, including 45 women and 3 children.

More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, the worldwide Organization for Migration (IOM) said earlier this month. Greece alone has reported 134,988 arrivals from Turkey this year.

Dr Crepet likened some of the stories she had heard to torture, telling of migrants being gang-raped in front of their loved ones by their captors in Libya.

“We’re dealing with another tragedy near the Libyan coast”. Over 320 people were rescued in the operation.

European officials say the plight of migrants, nearly 250,000 of whom have crossed by boat to the continent this year, is “beyond urgent”.

Migrants look out of a window on the Medecins Sans Frontiere rescue ship Bourbon Argos as it arrives in Trapani, on the island of Sicily, Italy, August 9, 2015.