Report: 400 people may have died crossing Mediterranean

Survivors of a capsized vessel say as many as 400 people may have drowned in the shipwreck after leaving Libya, while making the deadly journey across the Mediterranean.

Save the Children organization made the announcement based on testimonies collected from survivors who were rescued from another boat by Italian coastguards and brought to the city of Reggio Calabria.

According to Save the Children, the increasing number of deaths at sea “poses a threat,” not only to Italy, but to the entire European Union.

The European Union must quickly make changes in its regulations to cope with the growing number of migrants trying to reach its shores, the EU’s top migration official said last week.

“The unprecedented influx of migrants at our borders, and in particular refugees, is unfortunately the new norm and we will need to adjust our responses accordingly,” said the EU’s commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Save the Children director has said that among the thousands of undocumented immigrants rescued in recent days there are about 450 children. Valerio Blacks added that 317 of the children are unaccompanied.

“Many of them [the children] have experienced atrocious violence, and have lost their friends, relatives or parents… It is necessary to ensure their safety and give them the necessary psychological support needed,” said Blacks.

EU migration spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said 7,000 migrants have been saved since April 10. However, half of those rescued remain on coastguard boats, waiting to land.

Immigration surge

EU officials say there has been a recent surge in the number of migrants making the deadly journey across the Mediterranean Sea from different routes into the EU countries as weather and sea conditions improve with the coming of spring.

Reports say most of the migrants hail from Syria and the Horn of Africa and seek to head for the EU through Italy.

Some sources say the number of migrants entering the EU illegally almost tripled in 2014, reaching up to 280,000. Humanitarian groups cite the continuous threat of unrest and hardships in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia as the cause of the high-risk migration.

Libya: Departure point

Since the 2011 ouster of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and the collapse of law and order in the country, the North African state has become the preferred departure point for human trafficking into the EU.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 3,200 people died in 2014 alone in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Italy’s Lampedusa. The route has been described by the organization as the world’s deadliest migrant route.

Migration charities say as many as 20,000 people may have died trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea in the last two decades.

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