Migrant boat capsizes, at least 25 dead – Hundreds feared drowned off Libya --- kuwait times

ROME: Hundreds of migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean were feared to have drowned yesterday after their overcrowded fishing boat capsized off Libya. The boat ran into difficulty some 15 nautical miles off Libya and sent out a distress call, which was picked up by the coastguard in Sicily. Two vessels-the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) ship Dignity One and Irish patrol vessel LE Niamh-were immediately dispatched to the scene, but the boat capsized after the migrants all rushed to one side in anticipation of being rescued, the coast guard said. “Boat carrying 600 capsized off Libya. So far, 250 rescued, 16 dead. Worried for the others,” UNHCR chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said on Twitter. Three other ships have been sent to the area to search for survivors. Nawal Soufi, an Arabic-speaking Italian based in Sicily who is often contacted by migrants in distress, told AFP she had received a call earlier on Wednesday about a boat in trouble with more than 600 people on board. Soufi said she was called at 9am (0700 GMT) from someone onboard who said the fishing boat, carrying men, women and children, was in trouble because its engine room was flooded. Coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini confirmed it was probably the same boat but it was too early to say how many people may have disappeared below the waves. “The boat overturned and sank quickly because it was made of metal,” Federico Fossi, spokesman in Italy for the UNHCR told AFP, adding that “we fear many (people) were stuck inside” when it sank. More than 2,000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), while around 188,000 people have been rescued. Duty to help The latest shipwreck was set to shift the focus in the immigration debate back to the struggles of those fleeing war zones, after weeks of complaints from France and Britain over the disruption caused by asylum seekers at the Channel Tunnel. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told AFP yesterday that EU governments have a duty to help the flood of migrants arriving in Europe and not cave in to “populist” demands to turn them back. He said he was disappointed that EU ministers had failed late last month to agree on how to distribute a total of 40,000 mostly Syrian and Eritrean migrants from overstretched Italy and Greece. They agreed to start relocating a little over 32,000 of the arrivals among the EU’s 28 members in October, falling around 8,000 short of the target agreed by EU leaders at a summit in June. “If we don’t get there on a voluntary basis, we will have to reconsider the Commission’s proposals,” the former premier of Luxembourg said. Nearly all of the people crossing the Mediterranean so far this year, often in rickety boats and at the mercy of human traffickers, have landed either in Italy (97,000) or Greece (90,500), according to the IOM. The so-called central Mediterranean route proved by far the deadliest, with just over 1,930 people dying as they tried to cross from Libya to Italy, while only about 60 died trying to reach Greece. The eastern route is shorter and IOM said that traffickers taking people to Italy tended to use more unseaworthy vessels. – AFP

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more