Share

April 23, 2021 An inflatable boat with about 130 people on board was shipwrecked in the north-east of Tripoli.

The wreck was spotted by a Frontex plane, a freighter spotted three bodies and the Ocean Viking crew saw at least ten bodies in the vicinity of the wreck.

This is what the "Search and Rescue coordinator aboard the Ocean Viking", Luisa Albera, denounced.



- "Over 100 people lost their lives in the sinking of the second boat off the #Libia. Only #OceanViking and three merchant ships rushed. While the authorities, warned by @alarm_phone, let them drown".

Mediterranea Saving Humans underlines this on Twitter.       



⚫ over 100 people lost their lives in the sinking of the second boat off #Libia.

Only #OceanViking and three merchant ships turned up.

While the authorities, warned by @alarm_phone, let them drown. Https://t.co/XwP9QYY2Xu

- Mediterranea Saving Humans (@RescueMed) April 22, 2021




"Today, after hours of research, our worst fear has come true: the crew of the Ocean Viking had to witness the devastating consequences of the sinking of a rubber dinghy" wrote Albera, explaining that the alarm with respect to this boat was triggered yesterday. morning. "In the past 48 hours, the civilian telephone network Alarm Phone has alerted us to a total of three boats in distress in international waters off Libya," continued the coordinator, adding that "all were at least ten hours from our position in the moment in which we received the reports: we looked for two of these boats, one after the other, in a race against time and with very rough sea, with waves up to six meters "." In the absence of effective coordination from part of the state,three merchant ships and the Ocean Viking cooperated to organize the search in extremely difficult sea conditions "continued Albera, explaining that in this way the first corpses were identified, and recalling that" yesterday, after receiving a first request for help from Alarm Phone, the crew of the Ocean Viking had spent all day looking for a wooden boat in distress, without success: the fate of the approximately 40 people on board remains unknown ".the crew of the Ocean Viking had spent all day searching for a wooden boat in distress, without success: the fate of the approximately 40 people on board remains unknown ".the crew of the Ocean Viking had spent all day searching for a wooden boat in distress, without success: the fate of the approximately 40 people on board remains unknown ".



"This - he concluded - is the reality in the central Mediterranean: more than 350 people have already lost their lives in this stretch of sea this year, not counting the dozens of people who died in the shipwreck we witnessed today".