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| Africa North |
| 126 refugees feared dead after shipwreck off Libya |
| 2017-06-20 |
| [Al Jazeera] At least 126 refugees are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after the motor of their boat was stolen, causing it to sink, the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... ' migration agency has said. According to testimony from four survivors brought to Italia, the refugees - mainly Sudanese - left on Thursday from Libya trying to make the dangerous crossing to Europe, Flavio Di Giacomo, front man for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday. The men said that after a few hours at sea a group of Libyan traffickers intercepted their boat, he added. "They stole the motor - something which has happened a few times recently - and at that point, the boat started to take on water and sank." Rescued by fishermen Passing Libyan fishermen rescued the four survivors - two Sudanese and two Nigerian men, and put them on another boat with about 1,000 other refugees. They were eventually rescued and brought to the Sicilian port of Palermo. "They were in shock, traumatised by what had happened, and exhausted," Di Giacomo said, adding that there were no official witnesses to what had happened, but refugees from the second boat had confirmed the account. Gangs in Libya have built a lucrative trade out of packing refugees into rickety boats heading for Italia, where more than 65,000 have arrived so far this year. As of June 14, 1,828 people are believed to have died trying to reach Europe, according to IOM figures. |
| Posted by:Fred |