22 Dead On Migrant Boat Off Libya

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22 dead on migrant boat off Libya

Astral, (Pakistan Point News – 5th October, 2016) : 22 Europe-bound migrants were found dead on Tuesday in an overloaded wooden boat off Libya. AFP photographer Aris Messinis, who was able to go on board the vessel, witnessed many of the dead had suffocated. He said by telephone that It was a wooden vessel and there were about 1,000 people on three levels. I counted 22 bodies and there are still others in the hold. Messinis was travelling on the Astral, a ship chartered by Spanish NGO ProActiva Open Arms, which rescues migrants at sea.

The photographer said that towards 2000 GMT the Astral rescuers moved back to allow the Italian navy to take care of the survivors and retrieve the bodies. The Italian coastguard which is coordinating rescue efforts in international waters north of Libya said at least 1,800 migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast on Tuesday. It was yet another day of drama at sea after more than 6,000 migrants, most of them Africans in packed rubber dinghies, were rescued off Libya on Monday. Nine bodies were found in those operations, including a pregnant woman. The Italian coastguard said operations had been carried out Tuesday to bring migrants to safety from some 30 packed boats.

22 dead on migrant boat off Libya