42 migrants presumed useless after boat capsizes off Libyan coast

[ad_1] The United Nations mentioned Wednesday that 42 migrants had been lacking and presumed useless after a ship capsized off the Libyan coast final week.

It was the newest in a collection of comparable disasters in a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea which have claimed the lives of greater than a thousand individuals to date this 12 months.

Seven survivors had been rescued after six days adrift, the UN’s Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM) mentioned in a press release.

“In line with survivors, some people had been sporting life jackets whereas others held onto the overturned boat,” an IOM spokesman advised AFP.

The vessel, carrying 47 males and two girls, left Zuwara, west of Tripoli, on November 3 earlier than excessive waves brought on the engine to fail round six hours later, the IOM mentioned.

The boat capsized, throwing all passengers overboard, the assertion added.

On Saturday, Libyan authorities carried out a search and rescue operation close to the Al Buri oil discipline.

“After drifting at sea for six days, solely seven males — 4 from Sudan, two from Nigeria, and one from Cameroon — had been rescued,” the IOM mentioned.

“Tragically, 42 people stay lacking and are presumed useless, together with 29 from Sudan, eight from Somalia, three from Cameroon, and two from Nigeria.”

IOM workers supplied the survivors with emergency medical care, meals, and water as soon as they had been introduced ashore. They had been later transferred to Tripoli.

“Their well being situation is reported to be fairly good, contemplating their ordeal, aside from pores and skin irritations from salt water,” the IOM spokesman mentioned.

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Demise toll Greater than 1,000 migrants have died this 12 months trying the primary central Mediterranean crossing between North Africa and southern Europe, in response to IOM figures.

“With this newest shipwreck, the entire has risen even additional, reinforcing the pressing want for strengthened regional cooperation, expanded secure and common migration pathways, and more practical search and rescue operations to stop additional lack of life,” the IOM mentioned.

A European Fee spokesperson advised AFP: “These tragic occasions as soon as once more underline the necessity to intensify joint efforts with our companions, together with Libya, to stop such harmful journeys and to fight the felony networks of migrant smugglers that put lives in danger.”

UNHCR, the UN refugee company, estimates that over 1,700 individuals have died or are lacking on the broader Mediterranean and West Africa migration routes within the Atlantic this 12 months.

In complete, round 33,000 migrants are thought-about useless or lacking within the Mediterranean because the begin of 2014, in response to the IOM’s Lacking Migrants Venture.

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MSF relaunches rescue missions The medical humanitarian organisation Medical doctors With out Borders (MSF) mentioned Tuesday that it was relaunching its search and rescue actions within the central Mediterranean, having halted them in December 2024.

Its new vessel, Oyvon, was beforehand an ambulance ship in Norway.

“We've returned to hold out the responsibility of rescue for individuals who discover themselves in misery at sea, pressured to take unseaworthy boats, after having endured deplorable and inhumane circumstances, detention, abuse and extortion in Libya,” mentioned Juan Matias Gil, MSF’s search and rescue consultant.

MSF mentioned the swap to a smaller, sooner vessel was in response to what it referred to as Italy’s “restrictive” practices in direction of its earlier, bigger rescue ship.

The organisation added that the crew consists of a physician and a nurse capable of deal with individuals for hypothermia, gas inhalation and burns, in addition to wounds sustained within the “cycle of abuse and detention” in Libya.