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Refugee crisis: 117 migrants found dead on Libyan beach as Mediterranean drownings rise alarmingly
The bodies of more than 100 migrants, including many women and children, were found washed up on a beach in western Libya on Friday in the latest mass drowning in the Mediterranean caused by the on-going migrant crisis.
In some of the most distressing scenes witnessed since the recent summer spike in drownings began this month, the Libyan Red Crescent said that at least 117 bodies had been counted on a beach in the town of Zwara, warning the toll could rise.
"So far, 117 bodies have been found, 70 percent of them women and six children," Khames el-Boussefi, spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent in the western town, told AFP. "We are going out again to search around Zwara and nearby beaches," he said.
Most of the victims were from African countries, the organisation said.
Colonel Ayoub Qassem, a Libyan navy spokesman, said the toll could rise further. He blamed Europe for "doing nothing but counting bodies" to stop the massive illegal migration from Libya.
Another Red Crescent spokesman said the condition of the bodies suggests they were not "decomposed and therefore have drowned within the past 48 hours”, indicating they may have come from a boat that capsized on Wednesday.
As that news came in on Friday, Egyptian army's search-and-rescue centre said it was scrambling assets to meet a distress call from a smuggling boat full of migrants 165 miles northwest of the western Egyptian town of al Sallom in Egypt. Meanwhile Greek authorities said that hundreds were feared missing after a boat carrying up to 500 migrants sank off Crete.
With warmer weather and seas, smugglers have been packing migrants into unseaworthy boats by the tens of thousands, launching off from North Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to try to reach Europe.
Some 205,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe since January, the UN refugee agency said this week, with more than 2,500 deaths this year - the vast majority of them between Libya and Italy.
The Libyan drowning emerged as the Greek Coast Guard said reported that it had rescued 342 migrants from the 82-foot long fishing boat which is believed to have left Egypt en route to Italy on Thursday night. The vessel had called for urgent assistance after getting into difficulty late Thursday and began to sink in international waters about 75 nautical miles south of Kalo Limeni in Crete.
Nine dead bodies were recovered from the scene, with that number feared likely to rise amid unconfirmed reports that there were up to 700 people on board, a coast guard spokesman said. Some 220 migrants have reached Crete in the last few days.
Meanwhile in Greece authorities prepared to make the first deportation of a migrant back to Turkey after denying a request for asylum in Europe – a move that was being challenged in the European courts.
The 46-year-old Syrian man, who is gay, claims to have fled Isil “emissaries” in Turkey and has taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, according to Karl Kopp, European affairs director for German-based group Pro Asyl.
The case is understood to be the first such appeal under the controversial EU-Turkey migration which Amnesty International described on Friday as “reckless and illegal”, condemning European leaders for turning a blind eye to the country’s shortcomings.
Although more than 400 people have now been sent back to Turkey, no one of Syrian nationality had been returned against their will, making Friday’s decision a watershed moment. In a separate case last month, the appeals board ruled against sending another Syrian refugee back to Turkey on the grounds that the country would not uphold the rights to them owed under international treaties.
Since the outbreak of war in neighbouring Syria, Turkey has hosted more refugees than all other countries combined. But it has also been accused of human rights abuses against those seeking safety within its borders, including shooting Syrian refugees on its southern frontier, and beating others in detention centres, raising questions about whether it is safe to return refugees to Turkey.