More Than 140 Feared Missing After Migrant Boat Capsizes
The United Nations refugee agency has said in a statement that around 146 migrants are feared missing, after a boat carryong would-be refugees capsized in the Mediterranean.
The UN refugee agency said that they recieved their information from a Gambian man, that was reportedly aboard the boat that capsized. He was rescued by a Spanish military ship that was skimming the waters as part of Europe’s ‘Operation Sophia’.
‘Operation Sophia’ is the EU’s effort to crackdown on illegal smugglers.
After being rescued by the Spanish ship, the man was taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The man told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that the boat was carrying more than 100 people and that it capsoex shortly after it left the coast of Libya.
The High Commissioner met with the man at a hospital in Lampedusa.
The man also informed the High commissioner that the boat they had been travelling on left Sabratha in Libya on Sunday or Monday, intending to reach Europe.
He also said that most of the people aboard the boat were from Gambia, Libya, Mali and Nigeria. According to him there were five children on board and several pregnant women as well.
The man also had a lucky break, as he survived the capsizing by clinging on to a petrol can and staying a float. He was spotted ‘almost by accident’ by the Spanish ship before being rescued, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
The Organisation for Migration also said that there may very well be more shipwrecks out in the waters that they are unaware of.
“It shows that there may very well be shipwrecks we don’t know about, because the boats sink without a trace,” the organisation said.
As the refugee crisis worsens all over the world, more and more people are fleeing their home countries in search of a better life in Europe. This increase in demand for travel to Europe makes crossing the waters that much more dangerous.
