53 migrants thought dead after boat capsizes in Mediterranean
Feb. 9 (UPI) — A rubber boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea last week after taking on water, leaving 53 people migrating from North Africa presumed dead, a United Nations-affiliated migration organization said Monday.
The boat capsized off the coast of Libya, north of the city Zuwara, on Friday while traveling along a migration route through the Central Mediterranean that has potentially claimed the lives of nearly 500 people since Jan. 1.
In coordination with Libyan authorities, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it provided emergency medical care to two Nigerian women who were the only survivors of the when the vessel flipped — one who reported losing her husband and the other losing her two babies.
“In January alone, at least 375 migrants were reported or missing following multiple ‘invisible’ shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean amid extreme weather, with hundreds more deaths believed to be unrecorded,” IOM said in a press release.
“These repeated incidents underscore the persistent and deadly risks faced by migrants and refugees attempting the dangerous crossing,” the organization said.
The boat that capsized Friday left Al-Zawiya, Libya, around 11 p.m. local time on Jan. 5 heading north but started to take on water and, six hours into the journey, the rubber craft capsized, the survivors told IOM officials.
Libya has over the past decade and a half been used as a stopgap for migrants to leave African nations for Europe, though the United Nations has reported torture, forced labor and extortion, among other abuses, by trafficking and smuggling networks offering opportunities to travel.
From Libya, migrants can reach Italy, which is less than 200 miles away across the Mediterranean. Other paths through the sea, which have been no less deadly, include those between Turkey and Greece and Morocco and Spain.
IOM’s director general, Amy Pope, met with leaders in Libya in December to discuss efforts to combat trafficking through the Central Mediterranean, as well as to enhance safe and voluntary return and migration methods.
“Every life lost on this route is a tragedy — one that we can prevent,” she said after the mid-December visit. “Saving lives requires shared responsibility and real cooperation.”
Since 2014, IOM reports that nearly 34,000 people are believed to be dead or missing while attempting to migrate to Europe from the northern coast of Africa.
