48 Libyans who were attempting to escape their country were intercepted by EU supported coastguards this morning. The guards were on the extra lookout after the news of a tragic shipwreck that killed 43 refugees a day before. Anika Khan reports.
48 refugees left the northern coast of Libya in a wooden boat on Tuesday night. After the boat sprung a leak, they alarmed an activist network who run a hotline for people distressed at sea.
The Alarm Phone’s activists contacted the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities. German refugee rescue organization ‘Sea Watch’ who then sent their plane Moonbird to locate the boat and come to the refugee’s aid.
One of the Moonbird’s crew, Felix Weiss reported that they were lucky to get to the boat before it was too late. He said, “
Felix Weiss, one of the Moonbird’s crew, told the Star what he witnessed once the plane reached the escapees’ position this morning. “Luckily we found the boat quite soonish. We tried to co-ordinate a rescue with the Ocean Viking but they were too far away.”
He further added, “The Libyan Coastguard’s ship, the Fezzan, took the 48 people on board and headed south-east back to shore.”
Just a day before, 43 refugees lost their lives off the coast of Libya. This was the first confirmed refugee shipwreck of the year. On ten people were rescued and brought to the shore and handed over to Libya’s coastal security.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee reported that “Hundreds of people lost their lives last year attempting to cross the central Mediterranean, where the highest number of fatalities along a single migration journey worldwide occurred.” They have also warned that the lack of monitoring in the routes means that the actual number of people who perished in the central Mediterranean last year is still unknown. They have called on international communities to take urgent measures to shift their approaches in handling the refugee crisis.