- Title: Rescue group says EU should do more to stop migrant deaths at sea
- Date: 25th October 2016
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) HEAD OF SEA WATCH, MATTHIAS KUHNT, AT NEWS CONFERENCE HANDS TYPING JOURNALISTS SIGN SHOWING SEA WATCH LOGO AND READING (German): "SEARCHING, SAVING AND LEGALISING" (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF SEA WATCH, MATTHIAS KUHNT, SAYING: "Right now, this week, the European Union starts training the Libyan coast guard. For us these training measures have to be stopped and revised because we don't really know with whom we are operating there. We have a lot of incidents that show - or that at least take into doubt - that we are working here with a force that can be trusted. In any case of training, the improvement of the humanitarian situation for those people in distress has to be the first priority. What we have now is a mission that is trying to reduce the influx of migrants and that can't be the objective of such a training, so we hope that this training will be stopped." BANNER READING (German) "SEA AID IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA" (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF SEA WATCH, MATTHIAS KUHNT, SAYING: "First of all, we need a safe and legal passage so people are not forced to get on those unseaworthy boats, so people are not forced to risk their lives trying for Europe. Second, as long as this doesn't happen, we need at least a maritime search and rescue operation that is worth its name. Because what we have at the moment is a military mission, of course they save some boats, but with the efforts taken, with all the money spent for this military mission, there could be much more done, in terms of search and rescue." SEA WATCH LOGO ON T-SHIRT (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF SEA WATCH, MATTHIAS KUHNT, SAYING: "We will not break off as long as we are needed out there, but we are angry that the European Union forces us to go out there again and again, because the European Union would have the assets and the European Union would have the possibilities to change that immediately."
- Embargoed: 9th November 2016 12:23
- Keywords: migration crisis Lybian coast capsize Sea Watch
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY AND AT SEA
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY AND AT SEA
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00155I5YKN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Sea-Watch, a German-based humanitarian group, on Tuesday (October 26) said up to 30 African migrants may have died as a result of what it called the "aggressive" interference of the Libyan coast guard in a rescue operation outside Libyan territorial waters.
The group released new photographs of Friday's incident, including one which shows the Libyan coast guard vessel pulled up next to the migrant boat, and at least one a crew member in a military uniform on board the rubber dinghy.
Sea Watch stated the action of the Libyan coast guard vessel caused up to 30 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to drown and that their crews on the Okyroe tanker worked for three days straight to rescue over 1,000 migrants after the incident, straining the crew and the ship's resources.
"We have a lot of incidents that show - or that at least take into doubt - that we are working here with a force that can be trusted," said Matthias Kuhnt, head of the organisation, demanding the European Union to do more to stop migrant deaths at sea.
"We are angry that the European Union forces us to go out there again and again, because the European Union would have the assets and the European Union would have the possibilities to change that immediately," he said.
Aided by Libya-based people smugglers, some 150,000 people have set off for Italy in unseaworthy boats so far this year, with more than 3,100 having died or disappeared during the crossing of the Central Mediterranean Sea.
Since Friday alone, more than 6,000 men, women and children have been rescued at sea.
A spokesman for the Libyan naval forces in Tripoli on Saturday (said its crew boarded the rubber dinghy, but denied that the migrant boat was attacked.
Libyan naval forces said the incident occurred in Libyan territorial waters, which end 12 nautical miles from the coast.
Sea-Watch released detailed course charts which it said showed that it was at least 14 nautical miles away from Libya. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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