More bodies found in Mediterranean Sea

More than 340 migrants were rescued off the coast of Crete yesterday and four bodies were discovered in the Mediterranean just south of Greece’s largest island with hundreds more feared dead after an 80ft fishing boat capsized. “70 per cent of them were women plus six children”, said Khames al-Boussefi, media coordinator to the Libyan Red Crescent. All but a few were from Africa.

Mr Al Mosrati said the bodies were not “decomposed and therefore have drowned within the past 48 hours”.

It was unclear what boat they had been traveling on, the spokesman said.

A rescue operation is under way for migrants aboard a boat that capsized in the Mediterranean Sea early Friday, according to Greek officials.

Rescue operations were undertaken as other migrants are thought to be missing from the boat found in global waters, 75 nautical miles (140 Km) south of Greece’s Crete Island.

Elinor Raikes of the International Rescue Committee said such incidents show “that desperate people will continue to attempt these treacherous journeys until adequate legal alternatives to safety are established”. Others were to be taken to Egypt, Turkey and Malta.

They were washed up on a beach near the city of Zuwara, from which many unseaworthy boats are believed to have set out for Italy packed with migrants.

Nevertheless, some 204,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe since January, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Speaking by telephone, Gassim of the Libyan navy blamed Europe for “doing nothing but counting bodies” in efforts to stop the massive illegal migration from Libya.

The head of the European Union’s Mediterranean naval mission recently said that people smuggling was estimated to account for between 30 and 50 per cent of the gross domestic product in northwestern Libya. The Greek coast guard said the operation was continuing to search for any missing passengers. It was not immediately clear where the boat was from, who it carried, or where it was trying to go.

Hundreds of thousands of mainly Syrian refugees crossed the short but precarious sea corridor to Greece from Turkey a year ago in small inflatable boats, but that route was effectively sealed after an EU-Turkey clampdown in March.

But the number of people using that route has reduced to a trickle after the EU-Turkey deal, under which migrants landing on the islands can be sent back to Turkey, as well as the deployment of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ships in the Aegean.