At least 74 people drowned Thursday when a rubber raft carrying migrants sank off the Libyan coast. This was the latest in a series of disasters on the world’s deadliest crossing, according to a United Nations agency.
The motorized raft with more than 120 people left Khoms, Libya, on Wednesday, according to the agency, the International Organization for Migration. But the ship, which was poorly equipped for the voyage across the Mediterranean, capsized on Thursday, it said.
Fischer and the Libyan Coast Guard rescued 47 people and recovered 31 bodies, including the remains of at least one child.
The wreck was only the last to kill migrants on the notoriously dangerous journey from North Africa to Europe across the Mediterranean.
At least eight other ships carrying migrants have sunk in the central Mediterranean since October 1. At least 900 people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe this year, some due to belated rescue operations, the agency said.
More than 11,000 other people rescued or intercepted at sea have been returned to Libya, putting them at risk of human rights abuses such as detention, abuse, trafficking and exploitation, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In the past two days alone, at least 19 people, including two children, have drowned after two boats capsized in the central Mediterranean, while Open Arms – the only ship in the area operated by a non-governmental organization – rescued more than 200 people in three operations, the agency said.
“The increasing loss of life in the Mediterranean reflects the inability of states to take decisive action to deploy much-needed, dedicated search and rescue capabilities on the world’s deadliest crossing,” said Federico Soda, head of Mission in Libya in a statement.
“We have long called for a change in the apparently impractical approach to Libya and the Mediterranean, including ending returns to the country and establishing a clear disembarkation mechanism, followed by solidarity with other states,” Soda said. “Thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price of inaction both at sea and on land.”
The disaster came weeks after at least 140 migrants drowned when their boat sank in the deadliest wreck off Senegal this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
This boat had left Mbour, a coastal city in western Senegal, with around 200 migrants in the Canary Islands. However, a few hours later it caught fire and capsized in the Atlantic near St. Louis on Senegal’s northwest coast.
The Senegalese and Spanish navies, as well as nearby fishermen, rescued 59 people and recovered the remains of 20 more, according to the International Organization for Migration, which cited news reports.
Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the group in Geneva, said the migrants who drowned Thursday were mostly from Nigeria, Gambia and Burkina Faso, and that the survivors were clearly distressed and traumatized.
The raft, she said, most likely went to Malta or Italy, carrying people who fled extortion, torture and arbitrary arrest and detention in Libya and were in chaos in 2011 after the fall and murder of longtime dictator Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi be.
Since then, Libya has been divided between two governments in the east and west of the country, supported by rival foreign powers.
Last month, the two warring parties reached an agreement on a ceasefire in hopes of ending years of bloody conflict that had attracted armed forces from Russia, Turkey and other regional powers.
According to the International Organization for Migration, an estimated 700,000 to a million migrants live in Libya, mainly from Egypt, Niger, Sudan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Syria and Mali.
Many went to Libya to work but were forced through exploitation and harassment to attempt the deadly trip to Europe across the Mediterranean.
“That just goes to show how desperate people are in a country like Libya that doesn’t have anywhere near a legitimate internal state,” said Katharine M. Donato, director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service the University.
“This has become a terrible situation,” she said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic could only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and displace many migrants.
“I think we will have a winter full of stories like this,” said Professor Donato. “People are likely to take risks in the next few months that are even more frightening and bigger than they were willing to take in the past 10 months.”
Ms Msehli said it was crucial to dismantle abuse and detention systems in Libya and provide protection to migrants who are vulnerable to exploitation.
“We continue to see desperate people and children, women, mothers and fathers dying on this familiar route that remains the most dangerous in the world,” she said. “We urgently need action to combat this loss of life and this ongoing carnage at sea.”
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