More than 40 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Italy from Libya in a small boat, officials said Thursday. The latest tragedy came just days after 400 people died in a similar incident.
Four survivors of the latest disaster told Italian and international migration officials that their inflatable boat sank not long after leaving the Libyan capital of Tripoli, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The four survivors said they were originally from Sub-Saharan Africa and had left Tripoli on Saturday. They then stayed adrift for four days before their boat was wrecked, said a statement released by the IOM.
“It appears that the four were found floating in the sea by a helicopter and were then rescued by the military ship Foscari,” said the IOM.
The four – a Ghanaian, two Nigerians, and a man from Niger – arrived in Trapani in Sicily on Thursday with 600 other migrants picked up by the Italian navy and coastguards as they tried to make the perilous crossing.
The latest boat disaster came days after around 400 people diedearlier this week when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast.
The number of boats carrying migrants aiming to reach the EU from Africa has picked up in recent weeks as fine spring weather makes the passage safer. UN officials say well over 500 people have died since the start of the year, 30 times more than in the same period last year.
Italy, which handled the largest number of migrant arrivals in the EU, has become increasingly alarmed about the breakdown of law and order in Libya, which has greatly exacerbated the task of tackling the migrant flows. Libya is home to two rival governments, loosely aligned militia forces and a growing militant Islamist movement.
On Wednesday, the UN called on the EUto step up efforts to step up rescue systems and save lives.
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