migration
At least eight dead in ship accident off Lampedusa
There have been repeated fatal disasters involving refugee boats on the Mediterranean for several years (archive image). photo
© Francisco Seco/AP/dpa
A boat carrying more than 30 refugees capsizes off the Italian island of Lampedusa. Patrol boats are able to rescue some shipwrecked people – but help comes too late for at least eight people.
According to the Italian authorities, at least eight people have died in a new ship accident in the Mediterranean. According to the Italian Coast Guard, a boat with more than 30 refugees on board capsized about 30 nautical miles southeast of the island Lampedusa in international waters. Despite difficult conditions, patrol boats managed to take many of the shipwrecked people on board, it said. On the way to Lampedusa, however, some migrants died as a result of hypothermia.
According to the authorities in the evening, 23 survivors were counted after arriving on the small Italian island. Several of them required emergency medical care. The exact circumstances of the accident were still unclear. The reports from survivors were sometimes contradictory. There were also different information about how many people were still missing. There was also no reliable information about the origin of the capsized boat. Such ships often come from Libya, Egypt or Tunisia. According to information from the authorities, a small child was among the fatalities.
There have been repeated fatal disasters involving refugee boats on the Mediterranean for several years. According to the European Border Protection Agency, last year alone more than 150,000 people from Africa made the dangerous journey to Europe via the so-called central route of the Mediterranean. Smugglers usually charge several thousand euros for the crossing in boats that are often barely seaworthy.