|
84 migrants still missing after boat sinks off Libya
 Eighty-four migrants are still missing after an inflatable craft sank off the coast of Libya, according to survivors cited by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Saturday.Twenty-six people were rescued from the boat which sank on Friday, and were questioned overnight. “According to testimonies gathered by IOM in Lampedusa 84 people went missing,” IOM spokesman in Italy Flavio Di Giacomo wrote on his Twitter feed. Di Giacomo told AFP that the survivors indicated 110 people, all from assorted west African states, had embarked in Libya. In an email, 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.”
The coastguard 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 Sabbath. 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. An IOM spokesman said five unaccompanied minors aged between 16 and 17 were among those rescued. Posted by: Steve White 2016-05-02 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=454436 |