(Newswire.net — April 19, 2015) — The Italian Coastguard reports that a boat carrying between 500 and 700 people, believed to be the refugees from African countries, has capsized Sunday in the Mediterranean Sea, says the BBC.
So far, no more than 50 survivors have been rescued according to media reports. The Times of Malta reported that the incident occurred near Libyan waters, 120 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa. According to the newspaper, the boat capsized when the people aboard are believed to have moved to one side of the vessel when a merchant ship approached.
Italian vessels, the Maltese Navy and commercial ships are taking part in the rescue operation, the BBC reported.
Barbara Molinario, representative for the United Nations refugee agency, said the exact number of victims is not known, however, the most of people on board are believed to be lost at sea, the Associated Press reported.
At the moment, we fear that this is a tragedy of really vast proportions,” Reuters reported.
If the deaths are confirmed, it would be the biggest such tragedy to take place in the Mediterranean, Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told the Times of Malta. “They are literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in the water,” Malta’s PM added, according to the paper.
Italy struggles with an unusually high number of illegal immigrants fleeing Africa towards EU. The number of deaths reported last week as some 400 migrants were presumed dead after a double-deck boat capsized Monday about 75 miles south of Lampedusa in one of the deadliest crossing attempts in the past decade. In Tuesday, Italian police arrested 15 Muslim migrants who tossed 12 Christians overboard in the cold Mediterranean see.
“Yet again we have woken up to reports of another tragedy in the Mediterranean, which could bring the total number of migrants who’ve drowned just this year to a shocking 1,500,” Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said in a statement, urging Europe officials to “wake up to their responsibilities to save lives.”
Since April 10, more than 8,500 people have been rescued and some 31,500 more are known to have made the crossing to Italy and Greece in boats and rubber dinghies, UNHCR reported.
Many of the migrants are believed to be fleeing conflicts in Africa, Syria and Iraq.
the Italian Coastguard