Mediterranean boat capsizing: deadliest incident on record
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR has now interviewed most of the survivors of Saturday's boat tragedy in the Mediterranean. According to the survivors, their boat departed from Tripoli in Libya on Saturday morning with some 850 people on board, including many children. Among those on board were some 350 Eritreans, as well as people from Syria, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia.
Only 28 people are known to have survived the shipwreck, including a young man from Bangladesh who was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Catania, Sicily, on Sunday, and 27 people who were disembarked later by the Italian Coast Guard in Catania. From available information and the various accounts we've had, UNHCR now believes the number of fatalities to have been over 800, making this the deadliest incident in the Mediterranean we have ever recorded.
ADDITIONAL: Summary of spoken comments by Volker Türk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection (made in reference to the EU Joint Foreign and Home Affairs Council 10-point action plan on migration of 20 April 2015)
UNHCR welcomes the EU responsibility-sharing measures contained in the plan, such as asylum processing, relocation, and resettlement, which provide a welcome starting point for this response. UNHCR would also urge that such measures be expanded to further strengthen the asylum and protection component of the plan, including:
- Developing a robust search and rescue operation, along the lines of Mare Nostrum, which places an emphasis on saving thousands of lives;
- Making a firm commitment to receive a significant number of refugees for resettlement;
- Providing legal alternatives, such as enhanced family reunification, private sponsorship schemes, and work and study visas, so that persons in need of international protection do not need to resort to such dangerous voyages;
- Including a system of support for those countries receiving the most arrivals (Italy and Greece), and;
- Distributing responsibility for arrivals to avoid the current situation where a few countries are receiving most asylum-seekers, mainly Germany and Sweden, including through a comprehensive application of Dublin III and an intra-EU pilot relocation project for Syrians.
Media contacts:
- In Geneva, Adrian Edwards: +41 79 557 9120, [email protected]
- In Geneva, William Spindler: +41 79 217 3011, [email protected]
- In Rome, Federico Fossi: +39 349 0843461, [email protected]
- In Catania, Barbara Molinario: +39 338 546 2932, [email protected]
- In Catania, Carlotta Sami: +39 335 679 4746, [email protected]
- In Valetta, Fabrizio Ellul: +356 9969 0081, [email protected]
- In London, Andrej Majecic: +44 20 7484 5891, [email protected]
- In Paris, Philippe Leclerc: +44 144 43 48 50, [email protected]
- See also Media page
Your search for « tragedy Mediterranean » matched 185 results. Displaying page 8 of 21 pages.
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Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Case of Hirsi and Others v. Italy
29 Mar 2011 ... ... that reportedly lasted over twenty days (see UNHCR Briefing Notes, UNHCR shocked by accounts of survivors from boat tragedy in Mediterranean, 21 August 2009, http://www.unhcr.org/4a8e963c9.html. ...... -
Press Coverage of the Refugee and Migrant Crisis in the EU: A Content Analysis of Five European Countries
Dec 2015 ... ... boy, washed up on a beach in Turkey after his family’s attempt to reach Greece ended in tragedy. ... Süddeutche Zeiting, ‘Aylan Kurdi, three years old, drowned in the Mediterranean Sea’. ...... -
Introductory remarks at the Standing Committee meeting of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme (64th meeting) Kelly T. Clements, Deputy High Commissioner
21 Sep 2015 ... ... Chairman, I could not address the Distinguished Delegates today without referring to the tragedy which is unfolding in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Four thousand people come to the Greek islands ...... -
Boat tragedy off Mayotte - confirmed deaths, missing
9 Oct 2012 ... This is the second such tragedy in a month. It brings to 69 the number of people reported dead or ... As in the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Aden, the seas around Mayotte are the scene of irregular ...... -
Statement of Italy
5 Oct 2016 ... ... At least 9 migrants died but the incident could have turned into yet another human tragedy. The shocking news about fatalities in the Mediterranean are of course an undeniable reality we all have to ...... -
UNHCR deplores loss of life in boat tragedy off Myanmar
5 Nov 2013 ... Eight survivors have been reported so far. As with the recent boat disasters on the Mediterranean, UNHCR's worry is that similar tragedies will follow unless actions are taken by concerned countries ...... -
Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the case of Hirsi and Others v. Italy
Mar 2011 ... ... that reportedly lasted over twenty days (see UNHCR shocked by accounts of survivors from boat tragedy in Mediterranean, UNHCR Briefing Notes, 21 August 2009, http://www.unhcr.org/4a8e963c9.html. ...... -
Boat tragedy off Indian Ocean island of Mayotte
22 May 2012 ... The incident is a further tragic illustration of the dangers faced by people who take desperate measures to escape poverty, conflict and persecution. As in the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Aden, ...... -
Statement to the Inter-Ministerial Conference in Rome: "A Shared Responsibility for a Common Goal: Solidarity and Security"
6 Jul 2017 ... ... In conclusion, the Mediterranean has become a symbol of tragedy in recent years, as the horrors of deaths at sea have gained increasing prominence and international attention. But it can also be a ......