170 Migrants Feared Dead in Two Dinghy Accidents

Migrant organizations have reported that approximately 170 migrants are missing from two accidents in the Mediterranean Sea involving dinghies which came from Morocco and Libya.

Rear Admiral Fabio Agostini spoke with RaiNews24 on Friday, Jan. 19. He said one dingy was seen sinking in the rough seas by an Italian military plane. Two safety rafts were dropped into the water to help the migrants, but the aircraft had to turn back due to a fuel shortage.

A navel helicopter rescued three migrants who were inflicted with hypothermia. They were airlifted to a hospital on Lampedusa island.

Agostini told RainNews24 that during the search and rescue he witnessed at least three bodies floating in the water.

According to Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the three survivors who were saved came from Gasr Garabulli, Libya. The migrants left on Thursday, Jan. 17 with 120 other individuals who were primarily from West Africa.

Di Gamiaco said that the boat was at sea for 10 to 12 hours when it began to sink and the migrants started to drown. He added there were two children, one who was two months old and ten women aboard.

Italian Navy notified Libyan authorities about the accident. They immediately dispatched a merchant ship to the site for a search and rescue, but it was halted when there were no survivors located.

In a second incident, 53 migrants left on a dinghy from Morocco went missing. According to the Spanish organization Caminando Fronteras, one survivor reported the dingy was involved in a collision in the Alboran Sea in the Mediterranean.

The United Nations’ Refugee Agency issued a statement saying everybody was very sad about the 170 migrants who are reported missing or dead. They added they have been unable to confirm the amount dead.

The charity organization Sea-Watch reported on Saturday, Jan. 19 that they rescued 47 migrants from the sea, including eight minors who were unaccompanied from a rubber raft north of Zuwara off the cost of Libya.

Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini closed Italian ports to humanitarian boats in mid-2018 when a populist government became the ruling party. He said to stop human traffickers, and the ports will not be opened.

Salvini said on a Facebook video Saturday, Jan 19 that the latest migrant shipwreck proves if ports are open more individuals will perish.

Since 2019 started 4,449 migrants arrived in Europe, primarily by sea, compared to 2,964 in 2018. Last year, 2,297 migrants went missing or died in the Mediterranean Sea while 116,959 migrants made it to Europe.

Written By Barbara Sobel

Sources:

The Telegraph: Around 170 migrants missing in the Mediterranean after two shipwrecks
The Guardian: Dinghies with 170 migrants on board missing in Med
NBC News: Around 120 migrants feared dead after overloaded dingy sinks in Mediterranean

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