30 migrants missing, 17 rescued after boat capsizes in central Mediterranean
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The vessel, travelling in the direction of Italy capsized about 177km north-west of Benghazi, Libya.
PHOTO: SEAWATCH_INTL/TWITTER
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ROME – Thirty people are missing and 17 were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Sunday after the boat in which they were travelling from Libya capsized in bad weather, said Italy’s coast guard.
Rescue operations were ongoing, supported by merchant ships and aerial support by the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, while two more merchant vessels were en route to the area, the coast guard said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday, the Mediterranea Saving Humans charity had tweeted that according to several sources, the vessel, travelling in the direction of Italy, had capsized about 177km north-west of Benghazi, Libya.
Alarm Phone, another charity which picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, said on Twitter that it had first alerted the authorities on Saturday, emphasising that the boat, which was carrying 47 people, needed immediate rescue.
After an initial rescue attempt by a merchant ship failed owing to bad weather, the Libyan authorities asked Rome for help, given that they lacked the means to carry out the rescue, the coast guard said in the statement.
Rome then requested merchant ships in the area to join the rescue efforts.
However, the migrant vessel turned over during an attempt to transfer the people on to the Froland merchant ship on Sunday morning, it said.
The coast guard added that two of the rescued people were in need of medical assistance and would be taken to Malta before the merchant vessel could resume its trip to Italy.
Arrivals on the rise
Italy’s coast guard said on Sunday that the boat capsized outside Italy’s search and rescue area.
However, Rome’s ability to rescue migrants at sea has come under scrutiny after a Feb 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 died.
On Saturday, the coast guard said that more than 1,300 migrants had been rescued in three separate operations off the southern tip of Italy, with another 200 saved off Sicily.
The number of migrant arrivals in Italy has been on the rise, piling pressure on the country’s conservative government, which took office last October promising to cut the flow, only to see a sharp increase in such landings in 2023 from North Africa and Turkey.
Some 17,600 people had reached Italy in 2023 as at March 10, compared with 6,000 in the same period in 2022.
Hundreds have also died trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. REUTERS
