|
 Three other rescue operations were underway on Monday to save
hundreds more migrants in peril on overloaded vessels making the
journey from the north coast of Africa to Europe.
The mass deaths have caused shock in Europe, where a decision to
scale back naval operations last year seems to have increased the
risks for migrants without reducing their numbers.
"The situation in the Mediterranean is dramatic. It cannot continue
like this," said European Council President Donald Tusk, calling an
extraordinary summit of EU leaders for Thursday to plan how to stop
human traffickers and boost rescue efforts.
Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said as many as 900 people may
have died in Sunday's disaster off the coast of Libya when a large
boat capsized. That would be the highest death toll in recent times
among migrants, who are trafficked in the tens of thousands in
rickety vessels across the Mediterranean.
As 27 survivors of the disaster arrived in Italy on a coast guard
vessel late on Monday, authorities said the captain of the migrant
boat and his deputy had been arrested on suspicion of people
smuggling.
 EU ministers held a moment of silence at a meeting in Luxembourg to
discuss the crisis. The bloc's executive, the European Commission,
presented a ten-point plan to address the crisis, which would
include doubling the size and the funding of "Triton", an EU naval
operation in the Mediterranean.
But even that would leave the operation smaller and less well-funded
than an Italian mission abandoned last year due to costs and
domestic opposition to sea rescues that could attract even more
migrants.
"SLAVERY"
Italy and Malta were working to rescue another two boats carrying an
estimated 400 people off the coast of Libya on Monday. Hundreds of
kilometers to the east, coast guardsmen were struggling to save
scores of migrants from another vessel destroyed after running
aground off the Greek island of Rhodes.
The Greek coast guard said at least three people were killed there.
Television pictures showed survivors clinging to floating debris
while rescuers pulled them from the waves.
Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi compared the smuggling of
migrants across the Mediterranean to the African slave trade of
centuries ago. "When we say we are in the presence of slavery, we
are not using the word just for effect," he said.
Following an investigation launched after hundreds of migrants
drowned near the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, prosecutors in
Palermo on Monday announced they had arrested 24 suspected
traffickers suspected of organizing the transport of thousands of
Ethiopians and Eritreans to Italy.
 However, it was not yet clear whether they had any connection with
the latest disaster.
"The investigations are continuing and we will see if there is any
responsibility for the latest incidents," Palermo police chief Guido
Longo told reporters.
Among those named in the investigation were an Ethiopian and an
Eritrean based in Libya who were suspected of being two of the key
figures profiting from the so-called "Libyan route". They were not
among those arrested.
European officials are struggling to come up with a policy to
respond more humanely to an exodus of migrants traveling by sea from
Africa and Asia to Europe, without worsening the crisis by
encouraging more to leave.
"Search and rescue alone is not a silver bullet," said German
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. "If you just organize search
and rescue, criminals who get the refugees on board will send more
boats."
Nevertheless, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that alongside efforts
to fight trafficking, more should be done to save those at sea: "We
will do everything to prevent further victims from perishing in the
most agonizing way on our doorstep."
The vessel overturned and sank off the coast of Libya on Sunday,
apparently after passengers rushed to one side to attract attention
from a passing merchant ship.
[to top of second column] |
A Bangladeshi survivor told police there had been 950 passengers
onboard, many locked into the hold and lower deck. However, Catania
Chief Prosecutor Giovanni Salvi, who is conducting a homicide
investigation into the case, said the figure needed to be treated
with caution.
In the Maltese capital of Valletta, coast guard officers brought
ashore 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 as survivors looked on from the deck.
Twenty-seven survivors rescued so far arrived in the Sicilian port
of Catania late on Monday. Another survivor was earlier taken to a
Catania hospital by helicopter.
In Greece, more than 90 people were rescued from the boat wrecked
off the coast of Rhodes: "We have recovered three bodies so far -
that of a man, a woman and a child," a coast guard official said.
Among those calling for more compassion from Europe were the United
Nations human rights chief and Pope Francis.
"This is a humanitarian emergency that involves us all," the IOM's
Italy Director Federico Soda said, calling for a mission equivalent
to the Italian operation to be relaunched immediately.
LIBYA CHAOS
If the toll is confirmed in Sunday's tragedy, as many as 1,800
migrants will have died so far trying to cross the Mediterranean
since the start of this year. The IOM estimates around 21,000 have
made the voyage successfully.
In comparison, by the end of April 2014, fewer than 100 had died out
of an estimated 26,000 who crossed.
The number of migrants normally surges in the summer, meaning far
greater numbers are likely to attempt the voyage in the coming
months. In total last year, 174,000 made the journey successfully
and around 3,200 died.
The IOM says hundreds of thousands of people could be planning to
attempt the crossing from Libya, now in a lawless state with two
competing governments at war with each other and both incapable of
policing people-smuggling gangs.
Renzi said a military operation in Libya was not on the table, while
Malta's Muscat said the United Nations should mandate a force to
fight human traffickers in Libya.
Human rights group Amnesty International said Thursday's summit
would be a litmus test of Europe's commitment to save lives in the
Mediterranean, calling for a robust rescue mission.
Bernard Ryan, professor of migration law at Leicester University,
told Reuters: "It's a myth to think there's some other solution".
Last week around 400 migrants were reported to have died attempting
to reach Italy from Libya when their boat capsized.
Northern EU countries have so far largely left rescue operations to
southern states, such as Italy. According to the IOM, Italian coast
guard, navy and commercial ships had rescued 10,000 migrants in the
Mediterranean in the past few days.
(Additional reporting by Chris Scicluna in Valletta, Adrian Croft
and Tom Körkemeier in Luxembourg, Angeliki Koutantou and Renee
Maltezou in Athens, Gavin Jones and Isla Binnie in Rome and Alex
Schuller in Vienna; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Philippa
Fletcher, G Crosse, Toni Reinhold)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
