AT LEAST 150 Europe-bound migrants, including women and children, were feared to have drowned on Thursday, July 25, in the Mediterranean Sea after the boats they were travelling in capsized off the coast of Libya.
The International Rescue Committee said the tragedy was a stark reminder of the humanitarian crisis emerging out of Libya and of the urgent need for search and rescue missions to be resumed in the Mediterranean.
Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya's coast guard, told The Associated Press that two boats carrying around 300 migrants capsized around 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.
Around 137 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, he said, and the coast guard has recovered just one body so far.
Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, said 147 had been saved. "We estimate that 150 migrants are potentially missing and died at sea," he said. "The dead include women and children."
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, described it as "the worst Mediterranean tragedy."
Libya head of mission for Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Julien Raickman, said in a statement that their teams have provided medical care to two groups of survivors, respectively of 82 people and 53 people.
"We stabilized people with most urgent needs and referred seven people for life-saving hospital treatment. Patients are in shock and suffer from their nearly drowning (hypoxia and hypothermia)," he said.
He further called for an urgent response to the tragedy in order to prevent further loss of life for those attempting to flee Libya.
"We are now extremely concerned about the survivors of this latest shipwreck. They cannot be placed in detention centers where their lives are at risk. This was most recently reiterated by IOM, UNHCR and EU leaders who join MSF in the call for the immediate and urgent evacuation of all refugees and migrants held in detention centres across Libya," Raickman said. (AP/PR)