EUROPE-MIGRANTS/PALERMO ARRIVALS Over 500 migrants rescued, five bodies taken to Sicily

Record ID: 145231

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/PALERMO ARRIVALS Over 500 migrants rescued, five bodies taken to Sicily
  • Date: 3rd August 2015
  • Summary: PALERMO, SICILY, ITALY (AUGUST 3, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 'MEDICINS SANS FRONTIERES'-HIRED SHIP, BOURBON ARGOS, APPROACHING PORT MIGRANTS ON SHIP VOLUNTEERS GETTING READY ON DOCK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON SHIP HELPERS WITH WHEELCHAIRS ON DOCK MOTHER AND BABY ON SHIP VARIOUS OF MAN ON STRETCHER BEING TAKEN OFF SHIP MOTHER AND BABY BEING ASSISTED FROM SHIP MIGRANT LEAVING SH
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAF2HIYPAN14A63IJGQ7FHZJVHD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Sicilian port of Palermo received 535 migrants rescued at sea on Monday (August 3). The ship that carried them, the Medicins Sans Frontieres-hired (MSF) Bourbon Argos, also carried five bodies.
    Four women and one man were found dead on board a dinghy that was rescued on Sunday (August 2) in the Sicily Channel, carrying another 107 migrants - MSF said.
    Other migrants said their companions, who were in good health when they left Libya, died of possible dehydration or asphyxiation after 13 hours at sea.
    An inter-religious funeral service was held on board Bourbon Argos, MSF said.
    The dead are believed to be four Nigerian women and one man from Ghana, according to MSF.
    "On board (Bourbon Argos) , there are some of their relations, in particular the wife and two children of the Ghanaian man and the husband and three children of one of the Nigerian women," Chiara Montaldo from Medicins Sans Frontieres told Reuters TV on Sunday (August 2).
    The Mediterranean has become the world's most deadly barrier for migrants and refugees, with 3,500 thought to have died at sea last year and almost 2,000 so far this year. Many are fleeing poverty and violence in the Middle East and Africa.
    Italy has had about 90,000 sea migrant arrivals so far this year, after receiving 170,000 in 2014, according to the U.N. refugee agency says. Many of the newcomers look to move swiftly to wealthier northern Europe, including to the UK from Calais, France.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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