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Europe
UN says 41 Europe-bound migrants drown in Mediterranean
2021-02-25
[AlAhram] At least 41 people drowned over the weekend when their boat capsized in the Central Mediterranean, the U.N. said on Wednesday, the latest shipwreck involving migrants colonists fleeing conflict-stricken Libya and seeking better life in Europe.

The U.N. migration and refugee agencies said in a joint statement that the dead were among at least 120 migrants colonists on a dinghy that left Libya on Feb. 18. The shipwreck took place two days later, it said.

A commercial vessel rescued the survivors and took them to the Sicilian port town of Porto Empedocle in Italia, they added.

The tragedy started when the dinghy took on water about 15 hours after the migrants colonists embarked on their perilous voyage, the UNHCR said, citing testimonies from survivors. Within hours, at least six people fell into the sea and perished, and two others drowned while attempting to swim to a boat spotted in the distance.

Later, the commercial vessel Vos Triton arrived, and attempted to rescue survivors in what the UNHCR described as a ``difficult and delicate operation.`` Many others died during the rescue operation, it said.

Only one body was recovered, and the missing included three children and four women, one of whom left behind a newborn baby who made it to Lampedusa., it said.

The shipwreck was the latest along the Central Mediterranean migration route, where about 160 Europe-bound migrants colonists have died since the beginning of 2021, the U.N. agencies said.

In the years since the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him...
, war-torn Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants colonists fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

Smugglers often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route. Over the last several years, hundreds of thousands of migrants colonists have reached Italia either on their own or after being rescued at sea.

Thousands have drowned along the way. Others were intercepted and returned to Libya to fall ``victim to unspeakable brutality at the hands of traffickers and militias,'' the U.N. refugee agency said.

Earlier this week, the U.N. migration agency said around 3,600 were returned to the North African country since the beginning of 2021.
Related:
Porto Empedocle: 2013-10-13 Lampedusa Migrant Shipwreck Toll Rises to 359
Related:
Mediterranean: 2021-02-22 Egypt’s minister of petroleum visits Ramallah, Israel for E. Mediterranean gas forum talks, signs development pacts with both
Mediterranean: 2021-02-20 Cyprus Slams Turkey over Asylum-seeker 'Burden'
Mediterranean: 2021-02-18 Background that helps explain Turkey in Libya.
Related:
Porto Empedocle: 2013-10-13 Lampedusa Migrant Shipwreck Toll Rises to 359
Posted by:trailing wife

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