Dozens of migrants die in Italy boat sinking near Lampedusa

[pinto]

Source: BBC

At least 50 people have died after a boat carrying migrants sank off southern Italy, reports say.

Rescue operations are continuing and officials warn the toll may rise.

Passengers reportedly threw themselves into the sea as the vessel got into trouble and Italian officials were quoted as saying that dozens of people were still in the water.

Earlier this week, 13 migrants drowned while trying to reach the coast of Sicily.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24380247

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That's the full report at this time. ~ pinto

[dipsydoodle]

1. RT News is saying 62 dead.

Last edited Thu Oct 3, 2013, 09:37 AM - Edit history (2)

At least 62 asylum-seekers, presumably from Somalia, drowned and 120 were rescued after a boat carrying some 500 people caught fire and capsized near an Italian island on Thursday. Ansa news agency reported that 50 bodies had been recovered. “The survivors are in a state of shock” as they have been in the water since the early hours of the morning, the local mayor of Lampedusa, Giusi Nicolini, told reporters. The migrants reportedly lit a small fire to attract the attention of coast guards after a technical failure on their boat, and the fire then spread, causing panic. Another boat earlier arrived safely in Lampedusa with 463 people on board, believed to be from Syria.

No link - that's from the their general today's LBN précis page.

edited to reflect later update.

updated again to help comfirm origins of those affected :

At least 94 people were killed after a ship carrying African migrants to Europe caught fire and capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Thursday. Over 150 people were rescued but some 200 others were still unaccounted for as hundreds of passengers spilled into the sea. Coast guard ships, local fishing boats and helicopters from across the region were searching for survivors. The boat left from Tripoli with migrants from Eritrea, Ghana and Somalia.

[pinto]

2. Syria was the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the BBC report. (nt)

[dipsydoodle]

3. Oddly enough

that thought hadn't occurred to me. I'd have thought Syrians would make for Turkey or Greece although its possible both of those sea borders are effectively locked.

It could be that they're going for Italy due to the high number Italy accepted during the Libya crisis. That may no longer work - Italy had been issuing temporary EU ID's which allowed immigrants to then skip to France few if any wanting to stay in Italy anyway. I think that was stopped following debacles at the French border.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Mayor of Lampedusa says those rescued are from sub-Saharan Africa

http://www.dw.de/asylum-seekers-drown-off-sicilian-coast/a-17133424

which I suppose Somalia would count as, but I normally think of somewhere further west for that term.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Wouldn't a ship from Somalia use the Suez canal ?

Any other route would require Somalis to leg it across the Sahara to catch the boat.

Since sub-Saharan Africa has been mentioned I'd assume that the old route through Libya is still functioning. Doubtless all will become clear from the ship's log assuming it had been maintained.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. I assume they travelled overland in Africa and joined the ship somewhere on the North African coast

Like Eritreans who go through Sudan and Egypt: http://www.trust.org/item/20130821153659-f8ojr/

And if they are from anywhere further west, they'll have gone through Niger, Mali etc.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Same BBC link now updated further

"The boat had set off from Libya and many of those on board were migrants from Eritrea, according to UNHCR spokesman Laurens Jolles in Rome."

off topic - should the full stop go inside or outside the inverted commas ?

edit to add : RT stuff above in reply #1 now updated : there were in fact two ships and the one from Syria docked ok.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. This could be really bad - BBC now reports 82 dead, but hundreds still missing

There may have been 500 on board, but about 140 have been rescued so far.

[Beacool]

9. Lampedusa? That's the place that the Pope visited recently.

Poor people!! May they rest in peace.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Over 130 dead - 40 bodies found inside wreck

Ninety-four bodies have been recovered and a further 40 have been discovered inside the wreck, coast guards say.

Passengers reportedly threw themselves into the sea when a fire broke out on board. More than 150 of the migrants have been rescued.

Most of those on board were from Eritrea and Somalia, said the UN.

The boat was believed to have been carrying up to 500 people at the time and some 200 of them are unaccounted for.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24380247

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Death toll rises to 232

Italian divers have recovered dozens more bodies from a boat carrying African migrants that sank on Thursday.

Thirty-eight bodies were freed from the hull, which divers had previously been unable to access. The official death toll now stands at 232.

Divers "unpacked a wall of people", a navy officer said, adding that corpses were "so entwined one with the other" they were difficult to pull out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24436779