Ship Incident In Mediterranean Sea Claims 800 Lives: UN
KABUL: (Middle East Press) According to the United Nation (UN) refugee agency, at least 800 people have lost their lives in a ship accident in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday.
“We can say that 800 are dead,” said Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in Italy on Tuesday after speaking to the survivors of the disaster.
“There were a little over 800 people on board, including children aged between 10 and 12… They had left Tripoli (the Libyan capital) at about 8 am on Saturday,” Sami added.
She further added, that the survivors hailed from Mali, Gambia, Senegal, Somalia, Eritrea and Bangladesh, and that all had been taken to nearby holding centers.
Representatives from the UN agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 27 people have been survived following the deadly incident and have been brought to Italy on a coast guard vessel. One other survivor was taken to hospital in Catania, on Sicily’s east coast.
In the meantime, the Italian coastguard said they had recovered 24 bodies, refusing to confirm the UNHCR death toll.
The ship capsized about 60 miles (96 kilometers) off the Libyan coast and 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of the Italian island of Lampedusa on its way to Europe. The survivors were rescued after a helicopter saw them floating in the sea.
