• Migrants: shipwreck off Libya, dozens of victims feared

  • Migrants: 3 boats in difficulty off Libya

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April 24, 2021 The latest massacre of migrants in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya, left 130 deaths at sea yesterday. Alarm Phone launched the alert for three different boats: one with 40 people and two inflatable boats that had between 100 and 120 passengers each. The first boat overturned, while a rubber dinghy returned to Libya and the bodies of a woman and a child were found on board. Of the second dinghy with 42 people on board, however, "there has been no news for 53 hours", says Alarm Phone. 



Coast Guard sources report that "the event took place in the Libyan area of ​​responsibility". "The Libyan authorities took over the coordination of the event. The Italian Coast Guard, at the request of the Libyan authorities, as required by the international conventions on rescue at sea, identified the merchant units present in the area that were subsequently used by the Libyan authorities to research activities in the area ".



Despite this, the castaways could not be saved. Alarm Phone issued a distress call, which according to the NGO would have been ignored by the Libyan authorities. The GPS position of the boats was communicated to the European and Libyan authorities, but the only response was the overflight of a Frontex surveillance plane, seven hours after the first alarm, which identified the boat and informed all authorities and merchant ships in the area on the critical situation of danger ".



And even the European authorities, according to the Alarm Phone report confirmed by the NGO Sea Watch, would have rejected the responsibilities of coordinating the rescue actions, indicating the "competent authorities" in the Libyan ones. A 'hand washing' that left the boats at the mercy of the sea "with waves up to six meters" for a whole night. "The EU authorities and Frontex knew of the emergency, but denied the rescue," the NGO wrote on Twitter. More net international organization accuses of migration: "Member States have refused to take action to save the lives of over 100 people who have pleaded for rescue and sent two days before drowning in the cemetery of the Mediterranean. 



L 'meeting at the Viminale during the shipwreck

The tragedy coincided with the meeting at the Interior Ministry between the Minister of the Interior,

Luciana Lamorgese

, and the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Najla El Mangoush,

the first woman in the history of her country to hold this position. Lamorgese "reiterated the need to give new impetus to the traditionally privileged Italian-Libyan relations, confirming on the Italian side the adoption of a broad and articulated strategy in setting up relations with the new government of national unity called to manage this phase crucial for the stabilization of the North African country ". "I am sure that you will be able to successfully complete your task and, for our part, we will continue to support you on this path as we have always done", said the minister to the Libyan interlocutor. 



UN, IOM and Italian politics

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are also asking for a solution to prevent deaths at sea, which "reiterate their appeal to the international community to take urgent measures to put an end to the loss. of human lives at sea.



These measures include the reactivation of search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, a halt to the return to unsafe ports and the creation of a landing mechanism that is safe and predictable. " An appeal shared by the secretary of the 

Democratic Party, Enrico Letta

, which calls for the organization of humanitarian corridors for migrants. "The news of the disaster in the Mediterranean is dramatic - he wrote on Twitter -. Horror must push us to act. Not to be silent. Not to turn the other way. The humanitarian corridors managed by the UN are the solution". Controversial, however, the leader of the

League Matteo Salvini

who tweeted: "More deaths, more blood on the conscience of the do-gooders who, in fact, invite and facilitate smugglers and traffickers to put very old boats and boats into the sea, even in bad weather conditions. A prayer and a lot of anger ". 



The Community of Sant'Egidio

 announces that from Monday 26 April, starting from the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, in Italy and throughout Europe, numerous prayer vigils (in presence and streaming) will be held, promoted by the Community itself in memory of the victims of the latest shipwreck off the coast of Libya. As regards Libya and its detention centers, it is also necessary to "urgently open humanitarian corridors towards European countries, with a model that Sant'Egidio, together with other realities such as the Protestant Churches and the CEI, has already created in the last five years, with good results regarding not only reception but also integration ", underlines the Community.



The Libyan coast guard: "we have done everything possible, against the stormy sea"

Libyan navy spokesman Massoud Abdelsamad denied that Libya's Coast Guard did not do everything possible to save the lives of migrants drowned off its shores this week trying to reach Italy. "It is absolutely false," he replied, commenting on the allegations of inaction made by various quarters. "We intervened despite the bad weather conditions", assured Abdelsamad again. 



 "We received the emergency call and sent a boat from Al-Khoms directly to the position we received from Mrcc Malta and Mrcc Italy", added the spokesman for the Libyan navy referring to the maritime rescue coordination centers of the two countries. "We have fulfilled all our responsibilities. We coordinated, we collaborated and we sent a boat", said Massoud, adding that "we are saddened that lives have been lost": "we are the Libyan Coast Guard. When you lose a life, we are shocked because our first mission is to save lives at sea ".



"But there were strong winds and high waves that made rescues almost impossible. There were bad conditions", the spokesman insisted, recalling that in "another boat there were 106 people who we rescued by recovering two bodies and bringing survivors ashore, including pregnant women. " "After we started the search for the other boat but we could not find it because the weather conditions were very bad," explained the commodore. "By coordinating with the MRCCs of Italy and Malta we managed to bring three merchant ships to the area to carry out research", continued Massoud Abdelsamad.



"The next morning, despite the strong winds and rough seas, we sent our boat back to the area but unfortunately we couldn't find anything and we had to stop the search operations," admitted the spokesperson. As for the number of victims, "I can't say if it was a hundred or 130". When asked why three patrol boats were not mobilized, the spokesman recalled that "At the moment we have only two available and that day we had three cases: one on the border with Tunisia and two, including the tragic one, off Khoms". Speaking of the NGOs, the commodore said: "I don't understand why they want to corner us by claiming that the Libyan coastguard does not coordinate with other institutions" although it is doing its utmost "in a difficult situation "created by the rage of the Covid pandemic.