EU migration chief calls Mediterranean shipwreck ‘worst ever tragedy’ as hundreds feared dead

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The shipwreck last week off Greece that’s feared to have killed a whole bunch of individuals will be the “worst ever tragedy” of its form within the Mediterranean Sea, the European Union’s migration chief mentioned Wednesday.

The tragedy comes as migrant crossings from japanese Libya to Europe have surged, mentioned Ylva Johansson, the EU’s migration and residential affairs commissioner.

As many as 750 folks might have been on board the migrant ship that sank within the Mediterranean per week in the past, and simply over 100 folks survived the shipwreck. Thus far, 82 our bodies have been recovered and a whole bunch of persons are lacking.

“We noticed this new modus operandi beginning to start with of this 12 months. We’ve seen a rise with 600% alongside this route from the japanese a part of Libya in the direction of EU or primarily in the direction of Italy,” Johansson advised a information convention in Stockholm.

AT LEAST 29,000 MIGRANTS HAVE DIED TRYING TO REACH EUROPE SINCE 2014 

Migration Greece

Survivors of newest tragical shipwreck put together to board a bus to switch to Athens on the port of Kalamata, Greece, on June 16, 2023. (John Liakos/InTime Information through AP)

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She mentioned it seems the vessel was “an empty fishing boat leaving from Egypt, going to the japanese a part of Libya, selecting up possibly 750 migrants,” earlier than embarking on the deadly crossing toward Europe.

Noting that the variety of folks on the ship had not but been confirmed, Johansson mentioned the shipwreck may very well be “the worst ever tragedy that we’ve seen truly within the Mediterranean.”

Greece has been broadly criticized for not attempting to avoid wasting the migrants earlier than the sinking in worldwide waters. Officers in Athens say the passengers refused any assist and insisted on continuing to Italy, including that it would have been too dangerous to attempt to evacuate a whole bunch of unwilling folks off an overcrowded ship.

9 Egyptian males suspected of crewing the ship are in pretrial custody in Greece going through expenses together with taking part in a prison group, manslaughter and inflicting a shipwreck.

“This reveals that we actually must do a lot, far more to forestall this type of tragedies occurring within the Mediterranean,” Johansson mentioned. “And these smugglers which have requested these migrants to pay some huge cash to be despatched to EU, they’re truly being despatched to loss of life. That’s what they’re doing.”

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