A dramatic day in the Mediterranean: at least 70 migrants have died in a shipwreck in Tunisian waters, and a search is under way for another boat that had called for help. The Mare Jonio arrived in Lampedusa with 30 people on board: the vessel has been impounded.
At least 70 migrants drowned today in a shipwreck off the coast of Sfax, in Tunisian territorial waters. The first to raise the alarm was Alarm Phone, an organisation of European and North African activists that has set up a direct telephone helpline for refugees in distress in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Alarm Phone explains that the boat, which had probably departed from Libya, capsized and was assisted by a Tunisian fishing vessel that managed to rescue 16 people. Only a small number of bodies have so far been recovered, but according to the accounts of survivors interviewed by the Tunisian daily Al Chourouk, the death toll is expected to be at least seventy.
Alarm Phone had also announced earlier this morning that it had received a call from a boat that had left Libya with more than 100 people on board, including 24 women and 8 children, and that it had contacted both the Italian and Libyan coastguards, the latter of which had initially not responded. The Italian Coast Guard subsequently stated that it had informed the Libyan authorities, but at present, according to Alarm Phone, "communications with the vessel have been lost and we are still trying to obtain further information."
In the meantime, the vessel Mare Jonio, operated by Mediterranea saving humans, arrived in Lampedusa escorted by a Guardia di Finanza patrol boat to complete the rescue operation with the disembarkation of the 30 shipwreck survivors recovered yesterday in the Mediterranean, while the Interior Ministry announced the impoundment of the vessel and the Agrigento Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation for aiding and abetting illegal immigration. Alarm Phone also expressed its solidarity with the crew of the Mare Jonio: "After what happened today, we want to stress how dangerous crossing the Mediterranean has become under the new closed-ports policy, with so few NGO vessels at sea trying to save human lives."
