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Migrant boat capsizing: 90 feared dead off coast of Libya Migrant boat capsizing: 90 feared dead off coast of Libya
(about 1 hour later)
Most of those feared dead are Pakistani, three survivors tell UN migration agencyMost of those feared dead are Pakistani, three survivors tell UN migration agency
Associated Press Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Fri 2 Feb 2018 11.44 GMTFri 2 Feb 2018 11.44 GMT
First published on Fri 2 Feb 2018 10.32 GMTFirst published on Fri 2 Feb 2018 10.32 GMT
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Ninety people are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya after a smuggler’s migrant boat capsized, the UN’s migration agency and its partner agencies are reporting. At least 90 people are feared drowned off the coast of Libya after a smuggler’s migrant boat capsized, the UN’s migration agency has said.
Three survivors told the International Organisation for Migration that most of those feared dead were Pakistani nationals, though this has not been verified. Ten bodies have so far washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara, Olivia Headon, a spokeswoman for International Organisation for Migration, said. Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyan.
Olivia Headon, an IOM spokeswoman, said 10 bodies had washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara. Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyan. Two survivors swam to shore and another was rescued by a fishing boat, Headon said.
“We are told that two survivors swam to shore, and one person was rescued by a fishing boat,” Headon said by phone from Tunisia’s capital to reporters at the UN in Geneva. “We are working to get more details on the [capsizing] and where the survivors are so that we can assist them better.” The deaths highlight the increasing numberof Pakistanis travelling to Libya in an effort to reach Europe. They were the 13th largest nationality among migrants making the crossing last year, but the third-largest contingent in January.
Initial indications were that the boat had become unbalanced, she added. Despite an early surge in the total number of migrants trying to reach Italy from Libya at the start of January, the figure for the month as a whole were down on the same period in 2017 from 4,531 to 4,256.
An increasing share of those attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and Europe via Libya are Pakistani, she said. Pakistanis were the 13th largest nationality represented among migrants making the crossing last year, but the third-largest contingent in January. There were 218 deathson the Libya to Italy route in January and 246 in the Mediterranean as a whole, making it the second deadliest month since June 2017.
Headon said the reason for the increasing flow of Pakistanis wasn’t immediately clear, nor whether the greater influx was likely to continue, but added: “We’re looking into it.” Julia Black from the IOM’s missing migrants project said: “There is no way to predict the number of deaths we record. Almost all migrants who die in the Mediterranean are victims of chance, but it is heart-breaking that so often dozens, sometimes hundreds of deaths occur in a single day. While the deaths of these migrants are unpredictable, there is an undeniable trend of tragedy in the Mediterranean.”
IOM says 6,624 people crossed the Mediterranean in January, about two-thirds of them to Italy – a 10% increase from a year earlier. About 250 people died while making the crossing in January, six fewer than a year ago. Speaking in Tunisia on Thursday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, attacked the Nato intervention in Libya in 2011 that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, led by the British government under David Cameron.
More details soon … The operation was a serious mistake with no plan for the aftermath put in place, Macron said.
“France as well as states of Europe and the United States have a responsibility in what is happening in the region,” he said. “We have collectively plunged Libya into anomie without being able to manage the situation afterwards and this has directly impacted the region. The idea of unilaterally and militarily resolving the situation of a country is a false idea.”
The deaths come on the anniversary of a memorandum of understanding signed by Italy and the UN-backed government in Tripoli, which was designed to help Libya patrol its coastal and southern borders.
Oxfam said the deal had increased the number of people held in detention centres, and did not do enough to safeguard human rights and international law. Libya is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention that protects people who flee conflict and persecution.
The charity said recent efforts by the African Union, the EU and the UN to release migrants from detention centres were welcome, but that they did not help the majority of migrants stranded in Libya because authorities recognise only a handful of nationalities as deserving of international protection.
MigrationMigration
LibyaLibya
AfricaAfrica
Middle East and North AfricaMiddle East and North Africa
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