At least 29 African migrants have lost their lives while crossing the Mediterranean in a small boat in icy weather. Most of the victims died after being rescued by the Italian coast guard.
The migrants died of hypothermia while attempting to make a dangerous journey from North Africa to European shores in an inflatable boat. Coast guard ships picked up more than 100 refugees on the small vessel near Libya overnight. Seven passengers were already dead.
Two patrol boats picked up 105 migrants late on Sunday from the boat drifting in extreme sea conditions, with waves as high as eight metres (26 feet) and temperatures just a few degrees above zero, the coastguard said in a statement.
The migrants then spent about 18 hours on the decks of the small patrol boats taking them to Lampedusa, buffeted by high winds and spray. At least 29 died en route, Lampedusa’s mayor, Giusi Nicolini, said.
The number of dead may still rise, she said. One migrant had been taken by helicopter to the island of Sicily in critical condition, and the second patrol boat has yet to reach port.
"The smugglers, in their wickedness, threw them in a life raft in the middle of the sea," said Filippo Marini, a coast guard spokesman. "It is obvious they were traveling in physically stressful conditions. We are in the middle of winter, with conditions at the limit for everyone."
Due to bad weather and high waves, the coast guard reached the Italian island of Lampedusa early afternoon on Monday. By then, 22 more people had died after spending 18 hours on small rescue vessels buffeted by wind and sea spray.
In 2013, more than 360 people drowned trying to reach Europe via Lampedusa, a tragedy which initiated the Italian-run search-and-rescue mission, Mare Nostrum. However, the government of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi brought the mission to end last year, as it had been costing Italy more than 9 million euros ($10 million) per month.
Nicolini blamed the closure of Italy’s search-and-rescue mission, known as Mare Nostrum, last year for the tragedy. Since then no navy ships capable of keeping large numbers of migrants below deck have patrolled the waters near the Libyan coast.
“Mare Nostrum was an emergency solution to a humanitarian crisis, so closing it was a huge and intolerable step backward,” Nicolini said. Human rights groups repeatedly warned that ending the mission would endanger lives.
“The small patrol boats were completely swallowed by the waves during the trip back. If Mare Nostrum were still going, the migrants would have been given shelter inside a large ship within an hour.”
The patrol boats sent from Lampedusa are small vessels that ride low to the water so crew members can pull people in. But they cannot accommodate many below deck. Since it came to an end in November, no navy ships with the capacity to shelter large numbers of people below deck have patrolled the seas off the Libyan coast.
"The small patrol boats were completely swallowed by the waves during the trip back. If Mare Nostrum were still going, the migrants would have been given shelter inside a large ship within an hour," Nicolini said.
The EU now runs a border control operation, called Triton, with fewer ships and a much smaller area of operation.
Civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya swelled the number of people crossing the Mediterranean last year. Many paid smugglers $1,000-$2,000 to travel.
The UN refugee agency says 160,000 seaborne migrants arrived in Italy by November 2014 and a further 40,000 in Greece. Thousands have died attempting the journey.
“To organised crime it’s not important if people make it across the sea alive or dead,” Nicolini said. “But now, without Mare Nostrum, it’s as if no one, and not just the criminals, cares if they live or die.”
Laura Boldrini, the president of Italy's lower house of parliament and a former spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, shared the mayor's view. "Horror off of Lampedusa. These people didn't die in a shipwreck, but from cold. These are the consequences of the end of Mare Nostrum," she wrote on Twitter.
More than 3,200 have died in the last year while trying to cross the Mediterranean and reach Italian shores. At the same time, more than 170,000 made it to their destination, making 2014 a record year.
Tuesday 10 February 2015
http://www.dw.de/dozens-of-migrants-freeze-to-death-trying-to-reach-italy/a-18246843
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/09/migrants-die-hypothermia-italian-coastguard-rescue-libya-lampedusa
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