Hopes fade for survivors in Libya boat tragedy with 200 now feared dead

Hopes faded of finding survivors of the latest Mediterranean boat tragedy, in which an estimated 200 migrants drowned, on Thursday as rescue ships were called to the aid of more migrant boats in the same area. Vessels from the Italian and Irish navies and humanitarian agency Medecins sans Frontiers (MSF) saved more than 370 people from a capsized boat thought to be carrying up to 600 on Wednesday, the Italian coast guard said. They recovered 25 bodies but found no more survivors after scouring the waters overnight. Italian vessels continued to search the area on Thursday, a coastguard spokesman said.

What happened here was because the boat was so overloaded, and the conditions were such that the boat started taking on water and it listed to one side, capsized and sank, all in the space of two minutes.

Minister Simon Coveney

Initial reports put about 700 passengers on the overcrowded fishing boat but interviews with survivors - mostly Syrians fleeing their country’s civil war - reduced that estimate and the figure could still change. The Mediterranean Sea is the world’s most deadly border area for migrants. More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died so far this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 deaths during the whole of last year, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday. This summer’s mass arrivals in both Italy and Greece show Europe’s migrant crisis is worsening. Immigrants fleeing violence and poverty at home continue to pour in from Africa and the Middle East.

Africa Libya migrants