UN: 300 people die trying to reach Italy

More than 300 people probably died this week after attempting to reach Italy from Libya on four separate boats in stormy weather, the UN refugee agency said after speaking to a handful of survivors.

The sharp increase in the number of migrants dying while trying to cross the Mediterranean has reignited criticism of Italy’s decision last year to end a full-scale search-and-rescue mission, known as Mare Nostrum, in order to save costs.

Mare Nostrum was replaced by an EU border-control mission called Triton, which employs fewer ships and has a much smaller area of operation.

“The Triton operation doesn’t have as its principal mandate saving human lives, and thus cannot be the response that is urgently needed,” Laurens Jolles, the head of the UN agency for southern Europe, said.

In the latest incidents, an Italian tug boat saved nine people, the only known survivors from their two boats, on Monday and brought them to the Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday.

More than 200 people remain unaccounted for. The two boats were part of a four-boat flotilla that left a beach near Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday, Charlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy, said.

A third boat, carrying an estimated 100 migrants, is still missing, survivors told the UNHCR. Among the missing, mostly young African men, is a 12-year-old boy.

The Italian coastguard picked up 105 people on Sunday from the fourth boat.

The sea conditions were extreme, with waves up to eight metres (26ft) and temperatures just a few degrees above zero. Twenty-nine died of hypothermia in the 18 hours it took the coastguard to ferry them to Italy.

Counting the more than 300 estimated to have been in the four missing boats, almost 30 times as many have died since the start of 2015 versus the same period last year, when the Mare Nostrum mission was still in place.

“This is a tragedy on an enormous scale and a stark reminder that more lives could be lost if those seeking safety are left at the mercy of the sea,” Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR Europe Bureau director, said in a statement.

“Saving lives should be our top priority. Europe cannot afford to do too little too late,” he said.

Pope Francis told pilgrims in St Peter’s Square yesterday he was “following with concern the news out of Lampedusa”.

He said he would pray for the victims and “encourage solidarity so those in need are rescued”.

Meanwhile, The Moroccan Association for Human Rights said 1,200 migrants had been detained and most were bussed to remote parts of the country in the south in an apparent effort to prevent them from trying to cross into the Spanish enclave.