[IsraelTimes] Oil tanker rescues four people from North Africa but returns them to Libya, according to Doctors Without Borders
More than 90 people in an overcrowded boat drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, a prominent humanitarian group said, in the latest tragedy involving migrants colonists departing from North Africa to seek a better life in Europe.
Doctors Without Borders said late Saturday that the migrants colonists were on a vessel that left Libya last week. It was unclear exactly when the boat ran into trouble, said Juan Matias Gil, the group’s head of mission.
The group, also known by its French acronym MSF, said an oil tanker rescued four migrants colonists early Saturday in international waters. The survivors reported that they were on the boat along with about 100 other migrants colonists, it said.
MSF said the tanker did not respond to its calls not to return the migrants colonists to Libya, where "they will almost certainly face detention, abuse and ill-treatment."
The group urged Italia and Malta to "assign a place of safety for the survivors before it is too late." It also called for The European Union
 ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
border protection agency Frontex and other EU agencies to reveal the details of the incident.
Moslem colonists Migrants regularly attempt to cross the Mediterranean from the North African nation in a desperate attempt to reach European shores. The country has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants colonists fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants colonists across the oil-rich country’s lengthy borders with six nations. The migrants colonists are then typically packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and set off on risky sea voyages.
Around 300 migrants colonists died or were presumed dead along the Central Mediterranean route between Jan. 1 and March 28, according to International Organization for Migration. About 3,100 were intercepted and taken back to Libya.
Once back in Libya, the migrants colonists are typically taken to government-run detention centers rife with abuse and ill-treatment.
In 2021, at least 32,425 migrants colonists were intercepted and returned to Libya. At least 1,553 are presumed to have drowned last year, according to IOM.
Investigators commissioned by the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
’ top human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
body found evidence of possible crimes against humanity committed in Libya against migrants colonists detained in the country. |