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
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Survivors tell harrowing tales of fight for air on "boat of death" off Libya
28 Aug 2015 ... The others died of asphyxiation. The bodies, along with the survivors of the tragedy, were brought ... pm, carrying 572 refugees and migrants plucked from boats in the Mediterranean the previous day. ...... -
"Masses and Power: What Does the Future Hold?" Keynote Address at the Refugee Law Initiative 2nd Annual Conference
7 Jun 2017 ... Yemen, continue to generate displacement and tragedy on a growing scale, with more than 65.3 ... and dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean in search for solutions to their plight – ...... -
UNHCR dismayed at rising deaths from boat accidents in Mediterranean
13 May 2014 ... UNHCR is deeply saddened at a rising death toll from boat accidents in the Mediterranean Sea this ... from Vanuatu rescued 68 people. Yesterday's tragedy follows several shipwrecks off the Libyan ...... -
UNHCR urges Europe to recreate a robust search and rescue operation on Mediterranean, as Operation Triton lacks resources and mandate needed for saving lives
12 Feb 2015 ... In all at least 218,000 people crossed the Mediterranean, and 3500 lives were lost. Italy, which had ... Concerned that Europe's response to this growing tragedy is not to step up its rescue efforts, but ...... -
So Close yet so Far from Safety (1)
1 Oct 2014 ... ... I could only tell them: Grazie, grazie, grazie!” Letebrhane from Eritrea, survivor of the tragedy ... for search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean including with support of the European ...... -
UNHCR warns of deepening refugee crisis in Greece and calls for urgent and bold action
7 Aug 2015 ... ... The latest tragedy off the coast of Libya is a reminder of the need to continue the essential and lifesaving search and rescue operations in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean Sea by state and ...... -
Turmoil and tragedy in Lesvos as sea arrivals surge, urgent support needed to rapidly improve reception
16 Oct 2015 ... Both incidents, the maritime tragedy and the tensions on Lesvos, underscore once again the urgent ... Turkey to Greece this year, while across the Mediterranean as whole, more than 3,100 have perished. ...... -
Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2019
25 Jun 2018 ... ... through undertaking perilous sea journeys across the Eastern and Central Mediterranean. The humanitarian tragedy along this route is exceptional and requires a response above and beyond the ...... -
UNHCR launches new funding appeal for refugees as winter weather hits Europe
5 Nov 2015 ... With continuing high rates of refugee and migrant arrivals in Europe via the Mediterranean, UNHCR ... in order to avert the risk of humanitarian tragedy and loss of life during the winter months. ......