EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SICILY ARRIVAL More migrants land in Sicily, hopes for shipwreck survivors fade

Record ID: 144734

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SICILY ARRIVAL More migrants land in Sicily, hopes for shipwreck survivors fade
  • Date: 7th August 2015
  • Summary: POZZALLO, SICILY, ITALY (AUGUST 7, 2015) (REUTERS) COASTGUARD SHIP IN PORT VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON DECK CREW MOORING VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON DECK MAN HOLDING CHILD ON DECK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON DECK MAN AND CHILD MIGRANTS DESCENDING TO DOCK VARIOUS OF POLICE TAKING PHOTOS OF MIGRANTS VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS DESCENDING MIGRANTS GETTING ON BUS WOMAN AND CHILD GETTING ON BUS
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8ZA85VNK5VCXOCKT1B13UFYFY
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hopes faded of finding more survivors on Friday (August 7) from a shipwreck in which 200 migrants are feared drowned, as rescue ships were called to the aid of more migrant boats in the same area of the Mediterranean.
    Police said they had detained five men suspected of having piloted the boat that overturned and of having had a role in trafficking the migrants.
    Seas were very calm on Thursday (August 6) and Friday morning, perfect conditions to attempt the sea crossing, said a Reuters photographer aboard the privately funded the Phoenix, a vessel ran by MSF and the Migrant Offshore Aid Station.
    The Phoenix was involved in the rescue of a fishing boat carrying about 500 migrants on Thursday night and was en route to a vessel in distress on Friday morning.
    Meanwhile on a separate rescue, an Italian Coastguard ship landed approximately 370 migrants, mostly from Syria and Egypt, in Pozzallo's harbour, in south-eastern Sicily.
    The migrants brought to safety included many women and children.
    The Mediterranean Sea is the world's most deadly border area for migrants. More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died so far this year trying to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 from last year, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday (August 4).
    People-smugglers, mostly based in Libya and charging thousands of dollars for passage, have sent more than 90,000 migrants by sea to Italy so far this year, the U.N. refugee agency says. Italy took in 170,000 in 2014.
    This summer's mass arrivals in both Italy and Greece show the crisis is worsening. Immigrants fleeing violence and poverty at home continue to pour in from Africa and the Middle East.
    Many of the newcomers look to move swiftly to wealthier northern Europe, including to Britain from Calais, France.
    In April, a 20 metre (66-foot) vessel capsized as it approached a merchant ship that had come to its assistance, and up to 900 people were killed. It was the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean for decades and a symbol of Europe's long-running migrant crisis.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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