Tuesday, 31 March 200921 of people drowned, 20 are rescued and hundreds of others are feared to have drowned as at least one boat among several vessels leaving Libya for Italy went down. The incident took place near Tripoli, about 30 km (19 miles) off the Libyan coast. The exact time of the disaster remains unknown.
The IOM declared that the death toll could increase to 500 since many other migrant boats are thought to be leaving Libya in the past two days. A massive increase in the numbers of people departing from Libya was the case in the past 36 hours, according to Jemini Pandya, spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration. Yet, the number of the boats and passengers remain to be unclear. The strong winds and/or a hole in the hull might have caused the capsizing, according to the officials.
Two more boats are drifting off Libya's coast with their exact conditions and the number of migrants on board unknown, according to the Reuters news agency. According to unconfirmed sources, other boat incidents took place in the past two days and rescue and search operations are continuing.
At least 33,000 people crossed from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2008 alone, according to International Organization for Migration.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugee said that the tragedy reflects the desperation of people to escape poverty and persecution. "This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives," the U.N. official said.
Sources: BBC, AFP, Reuters
By, Nermin Aydemir
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Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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