AT SEA: More bodies are recovered after a boat carrying migrants sinks near Libya

Record ID: 348779

  • Title: AT SEA: More bodies are recovered after a boat carrying migrants sinks near Libya
  • Date: 24th August 2014
  • Summary: AT SEA, SEA OF TRIPOLI NEAR LIBYA (AUGUST 23, 2014) (REUTERS) MEMBER OF LIBYAN COAST GUARD SEARCHING FOR BODIES AFTER A BOAT CARRYING 200 MIGRANTS SUNK ON AUGUST 22 VARIOUS OF TWO MEMBERS OF LIBYAN COAST GUARD BRINGING BODY TO SURFACE VARIOUS OF MEMBER OF LIBYAN COAST GUARD HOLDING BODY JUST UNDER SURFACE
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: At Sea, Libya
  • City:
  • Country: Libya At Sea
  • Topics: International Relations,Disasters,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA617U5ES2XFZPA0PC29O79FCU4
  • Story Text: The Libyan coast guard recovered more bodies on Saturday (August 23) after a wooden boat carrying up to 200 migrants sunk just one kilometre (half a mile) off the Libyan coast, with most passengers were feared drowned.
    The local coast guard said it had no boats of its own and had to commandeer fishing vessels in a rescue attempt after fishermen raised the alarm on Saturday morning.
    Migrants have been streaming out of North Africa in rickety boats in rising numbers for years. Many head for Italy, and so far in 2014, the total number reaching Italian shores has passed 100,000, the Italian government said this week.
    Libya is a major departure point for this journey, and human traffickers are exploiting the political chaos and lack of security that has blighted the country since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising in 2011.
    The small boat crammed with between 150-200 migrants sank late on Friday (August 22) near Qarabouli, east of Tripoli.
    Local fishermen raised the alarm at dawn on Saturday morning and the coast guard managed to rescue 16 migrants who were still alive in the water, surrounded by bodies, Abdellatif said.
    The boat had entirely disappeared when the coast guard arrived at the scene, around 1 km from the beach.
    The coast guard in Qarabouli has no equipment and so is forced to borrow fishing vessels and tug boats to carry out their rescue missions.
    One member of the coast guard, said: "We had to dive to the boat and we found more than 170 bodies and we worked with very small capabilities, because we do not have too many capabilities; also there is no one to receive the bodies."
    In recent weeks, Libya has seen the worst violence since the 2011 rebellion as rival factions battle each other for influence and control of the country's wealth. Foreign embassies and agencies have evacuated their staff and the entire parliament has decamped to the country's east.
    State authority has crumbled and basic services are becoming increasingly more difficult to come by.
    "The coast guard has no problem with searching for the missing illegal migrants, but the problem is who will receive them after finding them," Libya's navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem said.
    "They have no locations to accept them and the immigration authorities are not helpful enough to receive them on time," he said.? The Italian navy told Reuters they were not involved in the incident and had no further details.
    Italy is carrying out the bulk of patrols in the Mediterranean Sea aimed at preventing major tragedies involving migrants. More than 70,000 people have been rescued through the "Mare Nostrum" (Our Sea) mission of patrols which Italy began last October.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register