Rescuers searched for survivors on
Sunday after a boat with hundreds of
migrants trying to reach Italy capsized in
the Mediterranean Sea north of
Libya, The
New York Times reports.
Twenty-eight survivors and 24 bodies
have been recovered, the Italian Coast
Guard said in a statement.
Details of the accident and the number of
migrants on board were unclear, the
authorities said. However, news reports
estimated that the boat was carrying 500
to 700 people.
The boat, which was 20 meters, or about
65 feet, long, capsized 70 miles north of
Libya as a Portuguese vessel that the
Italian authorities had diverted was
approaching it early Sunday, the coast
guard said.
The boat possibly capsized when the
migrants moved to one side of their
vessel as the merchant ship approached,
the coast guard said.
The search for survivors continued on
Sunday with 17 vessels from the coast
guard, Italy’s financial police and the
Italian and Maltese Navies, alongside
vessels belonging to Triton, a European-
led rescue program, and several merchant
boats.
“It is really too early to know, but if the
number was confirmed, this would be the
deadliest shipwreck in the
Mediterranean,” said Flavio Di Giacomo, a
spokesman for the International
Organization for Migration in Italy. “The
migrant boats are increasingly
overloaded, and the journeys become
even more dangerous, if at all possible.”
According to the organization, an
estimated 90 migrants died while trying
to cross the sea to Italy in the first four
months of last year. About 900 people are
believed to have died so far this year,
according to the organization.
“If there really were 700 dead this time,”
Di Giacomo said, “we would hit a
horrendous record.”
The tragedy brought strong reactions in
Italy, including calls for a broader
European effort to address the growing
problem of migrants setting off on
frequently deadly journeys from Libya,
where central authority has collapsed.
The European border protection
operation, Triton, has been criticized as
insufficient and falling short of previous
search-and-rescue missions.
