Mediterranean migrant boat tragedy: Death toll could rise to 950

The death toll for the worst ever migrant disaster in the Mediterranean could be as high as 950, as Europe asks how to handle the growing scale of tragedy./According to reports A Portuguese cargo ship, on its way to Libya, had been dispatched to rescue a boat full of migrants, floundering 100 miles south of Lampedusa. In the dark, it changed course to assist the hundreds on board.


But the well-intentioned rescue did not go as planned.


On seeing the light, just before midnight on Saturday, the migrants surged to one side of the 66ft fishing vessel. Unbalanced, it capsized. And, in what is thought to be the worst migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean, 700 lives were lost.


Some reports put the toll even higher. Italy’s Ansa news agency quoted one survivor as saying there were 950 on board the boat when it sank.


“They are literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in the water,” said Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta – a country that has been the first port of call for many of the 35,000 migrants who have arrived in southern Europe this year. “Children, men, and women have died.”


The doomed vessel began its voyage in Egypt but picked up its passengers from Zuara on the north-west Libyan coast, according to reports. An injured survivor from Bangladesh who was flown by helicopter to the Sicilian town of Catania told police: “There were 40 to 50 children and around 200 women [on board]. When we sailed the traffickers locked the hatches to prevent people getting out.”Twenty eight people were rescued in the incident, which happened inside Libyan waters. On Sunday night the search operation was continuing, involving 17 Italian navy and coastguard vessels, backed by the country’s air force and a Maltese patrol boat. With sea temperatures of 17C (62F), migrants could stay alive in the water for some time, said the coastguard.

The tragedy marked a grim new record for deaths at sea, with this year’s arrivals set to dwarf the figures from 2014. It spurred calls for the EU to restart comprehensive search-and-rescue operations, having ended Operation Mare Nostrum in October – a rescue mission that saved up to 100,000 lives last year. In its place the EU runs a smaller border patrol service, Operation Triton. Last week Medecins Sans Frontières announced that, given the lack of search-and-rescue operations organised by the EU, they were taking matters into their own hands and launching their own ship.