nearly 150 migrants feared dead after boat sinks sole survivor says
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Nearly 150 migrants feared dead after boat sinks, sole survivor says

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today Nearly 150 migrants feared dead after boat sinks, sole survivor says

Kalifa Kujabi, 17, from Gambia, is helped by Proactive Open Arms rescuer to board a RHIB during a
Rome - Arab today

 A rubber boat packed with migrants sank in the Mediterranean and the presumed sole survivor - a 16-year-old Gambian boy - told rescuers he believed all other passengers drowned, the International Migration Organization (IOM) said on Wednesday.

A humanitarian vessel, the Iuventa, found the boy hanging onto a fuel tank in the sea on Tuesday. He was transferred first to an Italian Coast Guard ship, then to a Spanish frigate and brought to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa early on Wednesday. 

"He said that everyone else died. But there's some hope that the Italian Coast Guard picked up others," said IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo in Rome, after speaking to staff in Lampedusa. It should become clear on Thursday whether others survived, as a Coast Guard vessel disembarks migrants in eastern Sicily that day, he said.

"The boy said they left Sabratha, Libya, a couple days ago on a rubber boat with 147 sub-Saharan Africans on board, including five children and some pregnant women," Di Giacomo said. In the past two days, rescuers have picked up more than 1,100 migrants at sea, and recovered one body, Italy's Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard did not comment on the latest shipwreck. So far this year nearly 600 migrants have died trying to reach Italy from North Africa, IOM estimates, after some 4,600 deaths last year.

Migrant arrivals to Italy are up more than 50 per cent this year on the same period of last year.

Early on Wednesday the Golfo Azzurro, a humanitarian vessel, rescued about 400 migrants - mainly from Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Gambia and Bangladesh - including 16 women and two children. They were found drifting in a wooden boat without power about 16 kilometres (10 miles) off the coast of Sabratha, the most frequently used departure point currently used by people smugglers in Libya, and will now be transported to Sicily.

"The migrants kissed and hugged their rescuers and sang songs" after they were brought to safety, said Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis, who is onboard the Golfo Azzurro. "My brother back home convinced me to make the trip," said Gambian Kalifa Kujabi, 17, after the rescue. He said he played for Gambia's soccer academy and paid $600 for the passage.

"My brother said that I can only have a future as a soccer player in Europe." Italy's parliament on Wednesday approved a law aimed at protecting unaccompanied minors in a measure welcomed by humanitarian groups.

Also on Wednesday, the Senate voted to pass a decree that foresees new detention centres for migrants who are to be deported, cutting the length of the appeals process for those whose asylum requests have been rejected. The decree now goes before the lower house.

Source: Timesofoman

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

nearly 150 migrants feared dead after boat sinks sole survivor says nearly 150 migrants feared dead after boat sinks sole survivor says



GMT 13:04 2018 Wednesday ,03 October

Qureshi agreed cooperation with United States

GMT 08:37 2017 Wednesday ,09 August

Gulf diplomatic crisis splits families, dashes dreams

GMT 12:50 2015 Wednesday ,28 January

15 Israeli soldiers killed in Hezbollah missile attack

GMT 11:52 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Saudi university to open driving school for women

GMT 03:50 2017 Sunday ,23 April

Drought-hit Somalia moves closer

GMT 09:30 2017 Saturday ,08 July

Law enforcement forces in N. Sinai in manhunt

GMT 09:20 2017 Sunday ,29 October

World downhill champion Stuhec out of Olympics

GMT 09:08 2017 Tuesday ,15 August

Iranian drone buzzes US aircraft over Gulf

GMT 08:28 2017 Friday ,07 July

Beauty & hair magazine

GMT 12:10 2015 Thursday ,26 November

UAE Space Agency launches Planet Mars contest

GMT 14:27 2018 Thursday ,01 November

German businesses support closer EU-Russia ties

GMT 14:56 2018 Monday ,08 October

Barca held again as Sevilla lead La Liga

GMT 22:20 2012 Thursday ,08 November

RMA launches manufacturing plant in Bahrain

GMT 18:27 2014 Saturday ,27 December

Internet outage in area between Cairo, Kafr el-Dawwar

GMT 10:40 2018 Monday ,24 September

South Korea-Japan summit to be held

GMT 09:56 2018 Tuesday ,18 September

Gulf Air receives Thales InFlyt Experience officials

GMT 22:52 2018 Wednesday ,05 September

Porcshe GT3 back for 10th season
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday