100 people, including 20 children died in the latest Mediterranean tragedy
4362 Mins Read
A pair of twins about 17 months old, as well as their parents were among the more than 100 people, including 20 children, who died in early September when their rubber boats were wrecked off the coast of Libya, according to the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders.)
The two boats had set out from the Libyan coast early on September 1, each carrying scores of people, mostly from African countries such as Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Libya, Algeria and Egypt.
One boat’s engine failed and the other began to deflate, the aid agency quoted a survivor as saying.
Some survived by clinging to floating wreckage. Many people were brought to the Libyan port of Khoms on September 2 by the Libyan coastguard, MSF said.
“While the first boat had stopped due to an engine failure, our boat continued to navigate and began deflating around 1pm. There were 165 adults and 20 children on board,” a survivor told MSF.
The survivor said that at the time of the incident, mobile phone navigation showed the people were not far from the coast of Malta.
According to Ansa “At that moment, the satellite phone showed us that we were not far from Malta, we called the Italian coast guard and sent our coordinates, asking for assistance while people were starting to fall into the water, they told us they would send someone. the boat began to sink, “continued the survivor, adding that when” European rescuers arrived by plane and launched life rafts but we were already in the water and the boat already sunk and upside down. they could have saved “.
According to the story of the survivor, “only 55 people on his boat survived”.
They reportedly sought help from the Italian coastguard, but the boat started sinking before assistance arrived.
“We couldn’t swim and only a few people had life jackets. Those among us who could hold on the boat’s floating hood stayed alive,” the survivor said.
