http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN0LF0QU20150211
Some 300 migrants missing at sea, feared dead: U.N. agency
Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:34am
By Steve Scherer
ROME (Reuters) - An estimated 300 people probably died this week after attempting to reach Italy from Libya in stormy weather, the U.N. refugee agency said on Wednesday after speaking to a handful of survivors.
An Italian tug boat rescued 9 people who had been on two different boats on Monday and brought them to the Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday morning.
They are the only known survivors from their two boats, leaving more than 200 unaccounted for, they told representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The survivors said there had been a third large dinghy that had also left Libya on Saturday and was missing, Barbara Molinario, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, told Reuters.
In an incident apparently related to yet another boat full of migrants, the Italian coast guard picked up 105 people on Sunday in extremely dangerous sea conditions near to Libya and with the temperature hovering just a few degrees above zero.
Twenty-nine from that dinghy died of hypothermia in the 18 hours it took the coast guard to ferry them to Italy.
The recent deaths at sea have reignited criticism of Italy's decision last year to end a full-scale search-and-rescue mission, known as Mare Nostrum, due to concerns over costs.
Pope Francis on Wednesday told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square that he was "following with concern the news out of Lampedusa", saying he would pray for the victims and "again encourage solidarity so that those in need are rescued".
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Philip Pullella in Rome; editing by James Mackenzie and Crispian Balmer)
http://www.loraquotidiano.it/2015/02/11/tragedia-del-mare-a-lampedusa-oltre-duecento-i-migranti-morti_24944/
Tragedy at sea in Lampedusa
Over two hundred migrants dead
Worsens the budget of the shipwreck off the island. According to survivors, inflatables at sea would be a total of four. In January 3568 immigrants landed on the Italian coast
of Alberto Samonà
February 11, 2015
It aggravates the death toll of the shipwreck occurred two days ago off the coast of Lampedusa. They would not be 29 migrants dead, but 232 : a number far greater than what we thought at the beginning, for a tragedy of considerable size, brings back memories of the sinking of the October 3, 2013 . In that case the budget was very serious: 366 dead and 20 missing .
To reveal the numbers of yet another tragedy at sea is Carlotta Sami, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which reported the testimonies of nine survivors. The rafts on board of which were migrants, in fact, would be four : on board the first there would be 105 people, including 29 found frozen to death. In the area, according to the reconstruction, there would, in fact, other boats, carrying 212 people, of which would survive only nine migrants.
"The three boats - says the spokesman for the UN - in all probability had left together Sunday from Libya, with sea force seven, without food or water for over a day. In the first there were 105 people and 29 as we know have died of cold; in the other rafts that have embarked soon water, there were many more, and only nine have made it. The smallest of the victims was 12 years old. "
Meanwhile, yesterday were heard 75 migrants who were in the first raft and were rescued by the Coast Guard. To listen to their testimony were the agents of the squad of Agrigento and the Scientific Police of Palermo. "In the boat - have told the survivors - we stayed for three days, but almost immediately began to take on water." The police have asked the survivors to draw up a list of fellow travelers, in order to have a clearer picture. "
The bodies retrieved, meanwhile, will be transferred to Porto Empedocle (Agrigento), where they are organizing burial operations. Are about twenty municipalities in the province of Agrigento to have made available niches in their cemeteries. Two migrants will be buried in Alexandria Della Rocca, two at Aragon, two to Burgio, Cammarata two to three in Canicattì, four to Cianciana, one in Favara, two caves, two in Montallegro, two to Palma de Lichtenberg, one in Porto Empedocles, one in Ribera, two in Santo Stefano di Quisquina three Sciacca.
And they feel the data released by the Interior Ministry , which showed that, despite the difficult conditions of the sea and the low temperatures, have been well 3568 the immigrants to have faced the sea in January alone. In 2014 were 2,171 (170 thousand for the full year), while in January 2013 were only 217. The main country of origin is always Libya. Migrants, however, come from Syria (764), Gambia (451), Mali (436), Somalia (405th) and Eritrea (171).(Software translation)
Received on Wed Feb 11 2015 - 06:18:07 EST