More Mediterranean deaths as desperate migrants head to Europe
- 9 years ago
The first bodies have been brought ashore of the hundreds feared killed on Sunday in the deadliest shipwreck involving migrants trying to reach Europe.
In the Maltese capital Valletta, coast-guard officers unloaded 24 corpses found so far.
Wearing white protective suits, they carried the victims in body-bags off the Italian ship Gregoretti and deposited them in hearses.
At the same time, the port of Catania in Sicily was preparing to receive the migrants who escaped with their lives.
Just 28 people were rescued. Some 700, perhaps 900, others seeking a better life in Europe are thought to have drowned when their boat capsized off Libya.
“Over the past week, 1,000 people have died in the Mediterranean,” said aid worker Sarah Tyler of Save the Children.
“This is almost as many that have died in the Titanic and 31 times more than perished in the Costa Concordia. This is a tragedy that did not have to happen if the EU had reinstated its search and rescue mission.”
Ex-migrant
In the Maltese capital Valletta, coast-guard officers unloaded 24 corpses found so far.
Wearing white protective suits, they carried the victims in body-bags off the Italian ship Gregoretti and deposited them in hearses.
At the same time, the port of Catania in Sicily was preparing to receive the migrants who escaped with their lives.
Just 28 people were rescued. Some 700, perhaps 900, others seeking a better life in Europe are thought to have drowned when their boat capsized off Libya.
“Over the past week, 1,000 people have died in the Mediterranean,” said aid worker Sarah Tyler of Save the Children.
“This is almost as many that have died in the Titanic and 31 times more than perished in the Costa Concordia. This is a tragedy that did not have to happen if the EU had reinstated its search and rescue mission.”
Ex-migrant