A UNHCR file photo shows a boat carrying refugees and migrants drifts on the Mediterranean Sea shortly before rescue by the Italian Navy in 2014. © Italian Navy/Massimo Sestini
The 2018 has begun disastrously for refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea as so far 100 of them have perished or gone missing.
Rarely has the world seen such a huge number of refugees fleeing persecution, civil wars, conflicts and poverty. Yet, the international community has not been able to grasp the scale of the tragedy and respond to the horror that has been playing out in the Mediterranean waters.
The United Nations migration agency says around 200 migrants or refugees have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea – with up to 100 unaccounted for since the advent of New Year.
“It’s very distressing that during the first 10 days of 2018 we have seen close to 800 migrants rescued or intercepted off the Libyan coast, with more lives lost at sea,” Othman Belbeisi, Chief of the International Organization for Migration’s IOM Libya Mission, said in a statement.
By contrast, at a time when Mediterranean migrants’ death dropped sharply, IOM recorded only 26 on the Mediterranean Sea lanes in December.
While January 2017 had witnessed some 254 deaths, this week’s reports suggest that the start of 2018 may be even deadlier.
“More has to be done to reduce irregular unsafe movements of people along the Central Mediterranean route,” he added.
IOM reported on Tuesday that 81 Mediterranean Sea deaths of migrants or refugees were recorded in the first eight days of the year – five in Western Mediterranean waters off Spain and Morocco, the rest between Italy and Libya.
The UN says in the latest, and third deadliest, shipwreck in the Mediterranean since Saturday, the Libyan Coast Guard rescued three rubber boats with 279 migrants – 19 women, 243 men, 13 boys and four girls – in an operation lasting at least 12 hours.
According to survivors and Libya’s Coast Guard, about 100 people on board remained missing.
The IOM was present at the disembarkation point in Tripoli and provided the survivors with food and water.
IOM’s Christine Petré reported that the boats departed from the coastal towns of Azzawiyah and Al Khums – with most of the survivors hailing from African countries, including Senegal, Mali and Nigeria. The Libyan Cost Guard reported that eight are from Bangladesh while two are from Pakistan.
The UN migration agency continues to provide support and direct humanitarian assistance to the survivors of this latest tragedy, many of whom now are at Libya’s Tajoura detention centre.
