VATICAN CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2019) Pope Francis asked on Sunday to pray for 170 migrants who perished in two shipwrecks this weekend while trying to cross from Africa to Europe.
The UN-backed International Organization for Migration said Saturday that 120 people were believed to be on a dinghy that sank off the Libyan shore. Only three people were rescued. Another shipwreck involving 53 migrants was reported off Morocco's northern coast.
"My thoughts are with the 170 victims of the Mediterranean shipwrecks. They were looking for a future for their lives. They could have fallen prey to human traffickers. Let us pray for them and those responsible for what happened," the pontiff said during the Sunday Angelus prayer at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.
The UN refugee agency said it was unable to independently verify the death tolls for these two shipwrecks, but added that 2,262 people lost their lives in 2018 in an attempt to reach the European shore via the Mediterranean.
