Eighty-four migrants are still missing after an inflatable dinghy carrying 110 migrants from various West African states sank
off the coast of Libya, according to the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Saturday, April 30.
The
boat was found taking on water in rough seas after the Italian coast
guard received a satellite phone call. It diverted the merchant ship to
rescue survivors and bring them to Italy, BBC reports.
Twenty-six people were rescued from the boat and were questioned overnight, AP reports.
"According to testimonies gathered by IOM in Lampedusa 84 people went
missing," IOM spokesman in Italy Flavio Di Giacomo wrote on his Twitter
feed.
Mr Di Giacomo told AFP that the survivors indicated 110 people, all from assorted west African states, had embarked in Libya.
In an e-mail, he added that the vessel "was in a very bad state, was
taking on water and many people fell into the water and drowned".
"Ten fell very rapidly and several others just minutes later."
Earlier on Saturday, Italy's coast guard said an Italian cargo ship
had rescued 26 migrants from a flimsy boat sinking off the coast of
Libya but voiced fears that tens more could be missing.
The coast guard received a call from a satellite phone late Friday
that helped locate the stricken inflatable and called on the merchant
ship to make a detour to the area about four miles (seven kilometres)
off the Libyan coast near Sabratha. Rough seas and waves topping two
metres (seven feet) hampered attempts to find any other survivors.
The
rescued migrants were transferred to two coastguard vessel and taken to
the Italian island of Lampedusa. Images released by the coastguard
showed two women wrapped in shawls and blankets stepping off one of
their vessels.
An IOM spokesman said five unaccompanied minors aged between 16 and 17 were among those rescued.
More than 350,000 people fleeing conflict and poverty have reached
Italy on boats from Libya since the start of 2014, as Europe struggles
to manage its biggest migration crisis since World War II. Most of the
27,000 people who have made it to the Italian coast this year hail from
Nigeria, Gambia and Senegal.
Some 500 were rescued on Friday by monitoring vessels in the area
while Mr Di Giacomo said two bodies had been spotted in one inflatable
craft.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates 1,261 people have
drowned in the Mediterranean this year, chiefly on precarious voyages to
Greek islands, in desperate attempts to secure a new life.
Source: AP/BBC
Photo credit: Guardia Costiera
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