Migrants are shipwrecked, at least 6 dead including a child and a hundred saved by Open Arms

FROM THE CORRESPONDENT OF CATANIA. Another dramatic rescue at sea: a hundred migrants in the water, including women and children, clinging to the shreds of the rubber boat and two large floats, after the bottom of their boat broke; Rescuers were forced to dive to try to catch as many people as possible. At the moment the balance is six confirmed deaths: the last is one of the 4 children who had been rescued but whose conditions worsened with the passing of the hours: a girl of just six months. This is what happened late today in the central Mediterranean, in an area off the coast of Sabratha, on the west coast of Libya, according to the account of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, documented by a dramatic video broadcast through the social networks. In recent days, the NGO has returned to that stretch of sea its rescue ship, the only humanitarian ship currently present in the area, since all the others are seized by the Italian authorities or detained in ports in half of Europe for their maintenance. According to Riccardo Gatti, head of mission and head of the Catalan NGO in Italy, “the ship had been traveling for at least a couple of days.”

Yesterday the Open Arms had carried out another intervention in the same area with which it had embarked 89 people off the coast of Zuwara. Today the ship intervened after a report by Alarm Phone, the “migrant switchboard”, which these days is receiving numerous requests for help from migrants in distressed boats that left Libya, a “route” different from that. that part of Tunisia and that still these days has brought hundreds of people to Lampedusa, but that always leads to Italy and Malta. But a report via radio, the Catalan NGO also received it from a Frontex plane, a case more unique than rare for many years in this part of collaboration on this front but obviously the situation was so serious that it could not waste any more precious time . to intervene. The Open Arms, in fact, arrived in the area when the migrants were already in the water: “We put our two rescue boats into the sea and the 6 men of the rescue team,” says Gatti-, we took as many people as possible but I’m sure there will be other dead, we still don’t know how many ». The five bodies recovered at sea were still brought on board while the Emergency health team, which is on board the Open Arms, tried to rescue the 6 most serious people, including the newborn who died in the night.

Just yesterday it was learned of another shipwreck off Libya, in which another 13 people had drowned while the Libyan Coast Guard had brought back eleven survivors and had landed in Tripoli, as announced by IOM and UNHCR.

In fact, rafts and ships have been returning to sea from Libya for days and this is also attested by the intense air activity of Frontex, the EU border agency, and the armed forces of the European countries bordering the Mediterranean. departing from Italy and Malta. “All this shows how necessary a joint operation of governments is, at least in rescue at sea, as was done until a few years ago – reports Gatti – and how there is an immediate need for humanitarian corridors for safe escape routes for migrants from Libya “. A similar request came at this time from the Italian leftist MP Erasmo Palazzotto: “The time has come to free the ships of civil society and restore a government rescue device in the central Mediterranean.”