Only around 20 to 30 people have so far been rescued from the vessel, which went down in the Mediterranean off the western port of Zuwara, a coast guard official told AFP.
A security official in Zuwara said several hundred people had been on board the boat, with some apparently trapped in the hold of the vessel when it capsized.
"Some 100 illegal migrants have survived," the official said, adding that rescue operations were continuing.
Those onboard had been from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Bangladesh, he added.
The International Organization for Migration estimated 2,373 people had died so far this year while trying to reach Europe by sea, and 3,573 in the past 12 months.
Earlier today, the Swedish coastguard ship Poseidon arrived at the port of Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily with 52 corpses found on a boat off the coast of Libya yesterday.
Most of the victims had been trapped in the hold and died of asphyxiation, according to survivors.
Poseidon disembarked 471 migrants who were among the more than 3,000 rescued by several ships on yesterday.
"There are thousands and thousands of dead lying in the Mediterranean whose bodies will never be found, and no one is paying attention," said Palermo's Mayor Leoluca Orlando.
Earlier today, Austrian police discovered the bodies of between 20 and 50 refugees in the back of a lorry parked on the side of a motorway in the east of the country.
rte.ie
27/8/15
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Migrant crisis: Libya boats sink off Zuwara carrying hundreds...
ReplyDelete.....The Libyan coast guard worked overnight on Thursday to search for survivors from the latest tragedy.
But Libya is poorly equipped to carry out rescue operations as the ships available to its coastguard are small, BBC North Africa correspondent Rana Jawad reports from Tunis.
At least 100 bodies were taken to a hospital in Zuwara, west of Tripoli, a resident told the BBC.
The victims included migrants from Syria, Bangladesh and several sub-Saharan African countries, the resident said, but the information could not be independently verified.
A detention facility for illegal migrants in Sabratha, west of Tripoli, received 147 people, an official told Reuters.....BBC
Reports are suggesting as many as 200 people may be dead following a boat capsizing off the Libyan coast...
ReplyDeleteAround 400 people were onboard the boat when it overturned while on its way to Italian territory.
Around 150 survivors have been returned to Libya to a detention center near Tripoli.
Word of this comes following reports as many as 50 refugees may be dead after around 20 bodies were discovered in the back of a truck on the Austrian-Hungarian border.
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2015-08/28/content_36441397.htm
28/8/15