ITALY: Over 500 survivors found on a packed migrant boat reach a Sicilian port, after as many as 30 corpses were found by the Italian navy. Many victims had either suffocated or drowned as they attempted to cross from North Africa

Record ID: 348766

  • Title: ITALY: Over 500 survivors found on a packed migrant boat reach a Sicilian port, after as many as 30 corpses were found by the Italian navy. Many victims had either suffocated or drowned as they attempted to cross from North Africa
  • Date: 30th June 2014
  • Summary: POZZALLO, SICILY, ITALY (JUNE 30, 2014) (REUTERS) ITALIAN NAVY SHIP 'CHIMERA' LOADED WITH MIGRANTS ON DECK VARIOUS OF MIGRANT CHILDREN OF APPARENT MIDDLE EASTERN ORIGIN SHIP'S CREW WITH SAILORS NEAR CANNON SAILOR SPEAKING WITH MIGRANT VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS OF APPARENT SUB-SAHARAN ORIGIN MIDDLE - EASTERN FAMILY WITH CANNON IN THE BACKGROUND ITALIAN SAILORS WITH PROTECTIVE CL
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADKSEUFGOYZHVTYVOPKL5DIB43
  • Story Text: As many as 30 corpses were found on a boat packed with migrants off the coast of Sicily, Italy's navy said on Monday (June 30) after rescuing thousands of people trying to cross from North Africa over the weekend.
    The dead are thought to have either suffocated on the overcrowded fishing vessel or drowned, the navy said.
    The discovery on Sunday (June 29) underlined the scale of the crisis in the southern Mediterranean, where hundreds have died in the past year making the journey to Europe, and tens of thousands more have been plucked from rickety boats.
    566 survivors, including many women and children, reached the Sicilian port of Pozzallo on Monday, assisted to the port by the Italian navy ship 'Chimera'. The group, which appeared to include migrants from Syria as well South-Saharan Africa, were rescued from a packed fishing boat adrift between the Libyan and the Sicilian coast.
    The navy said thousands of others rescued this weekend would arrive in other ports on Monday and Tuesday (July 1), as part of the Italian navy's migrant rescue mission Mare Nostrum, or "Our Sea".
    More than 5,000 people were rescued this weekend, adding to the 50,000 migrants who have reached Italy from North Africa so far this year, many fleeing war and forced conscription as well as poverty and a lack of opportunity.
    Italy has called on its European Union partners to do more to help manage the near daily arrivals, a phenomenon that has boosted voter support for the anti-immigration Northern League party in a country struggling to emerge from recession.
    The breakdown of order in Libya has made it virtually impossible to control the boats departing and, at the current rate, the figures should soon pass the record of 62,000 people who arrived by sea in 2011, the year of the "Arab Spring" turmoil across North Africa and the Middle East.
    Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said last week the EU should take responsibility for rescuing migrants by investing more in regional border control agency Frontex.
    Renzi has also urged the United Nations to intervene in Libya, where traffickers charge migrants more than 1,000 USD each for the risky passage.
    Mare Nostrum is Europe's biggest search and rescue mission and costs around 9 million euros a month.
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