Reply #53: After watching the ship go down other refugees did not want to board a second ship, but Libyan

[pampango]

authorities forced them on the boat.

UN Dispatch: Boat With 600 Migrants Sinks Off Libyan Coast

http://www.undispatch.com/boat-with-600-migrants-sinks-off-libyan-coast


There are reports coming in from various UN sources that a boat carrying up to 600 people fleeing the violence in Libya was torn to pieces off the Libyan coast on Friday. The UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration are both relaying accounts from refugees on a separate boat who witnessed the disaster.

After watching the ship go down other refugees did not want to board a second ship, but Libyan authorities forced them on the boat. I just received this note from the International Organization for Migration.

Migrants also told IOM that after seeing what had happened to the first boat, many of them who had been waiting on land changed their mind about making the sea journey to Italy. However, they claim that Libyan soldiers and officials forced them onto a waiting boat by firing their guns indirectly.

Although this is the first time that IOM has been told of migrants being forced by Libyan officials to get on a boat, many have told IOM that they did not have to pay for their passage to Lampedusa while others say they have paid a nominal fee. However, they say that they been stripped by officials and soldiers of their savings and possessions, including mobile phones.