Over 700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwrecks in past week

Over 700 migrants are feared dead in three Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks south of Italy in the last few days as they tried desperately to reach Europe in unseaworthy smuggling boats, the UN refugee agency said yesterday.

Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for UNHCR, said an estimated 100 people are missing from a smugglers’ boat that capsized on Wednesday. The Italian navy took pictures of that capsizing even as it rushed to rescue all those thrown into the sea from the boat.

She said about 550 other migrants and refugees are missing from a smuggling boat that capsized on Thursday morning after leaving the western Libyan port of Sabratha a day earlier. She says refugees who saw it sink said that boat, which was carrying about 670 people, didn’t have an engine and was being towed by another packed smuggling craft before it capsized. About 25 people from the capsized boat managed to reach the first boat and survive, 79 others were rescued by international patrol boats and 15 bodies were recovered.

According to survivors, the second boat was carrying about 500 migrants when it starting taking on water after about eight hours at sea. Efforts to empty the water – with a line of migrants passing bailing cans – were insufficient and the boat was completely underwater after an hour and a half, police said.

The commander of the first smuggler’s boat ordered the tow rope to be cut to the sinking boat.