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700 Migrants May Have Drowned in the Mediterranean During the Last Few Days

May 29, 2016
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2 Min Read
The UN Refugee Agency has said more than 700 migrants may have drowned in the Mediterranean sea during the last few days

The UN Refugee Agency has said more than 700 migrants may have drowned in the Mediterranean during the last few days.

Carlotta Sami, spokesperson for UN Refugee Agency said: “An estimated 100 people are missing from a smugglers boats that capsized on Wednesday as they tried to reach Europe.

“Around 550 migrants are missing from a smuggling boat that capsized on Thursday morning after leaving the western Libyan port of Sabratha a day earlier.”

Refugees told Sami that the boat was carrying around 670 people, did not have an engine and was being towed by another smuggling boat before it capsized.

“Twenty-five people survived, 79 others were rescued by patrol boats and 45 bodies were recovered from the sea, Sami said.

Giovanna Di Benedetto, Save the Children’s spokesperson in Sicily, said “The first boat, carrying some 500 people, was reportedly towing the second, which was carrying another 500. But the second boat began to sink. Some people tried to swim to the first boat, others held onto the rope linking the vessels.”

In a third shipwreck on Friday, Sami said 135 people were rescued, 45 bodies were recovered and an unknown number of people are missing.

Italy’s southern islands are the main destinations for countless numbers of smuggling boats leaving Libya’s ports each week.

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