Refugees Killed by Hypothermia over the Mediterranean Sea
19 October 2018 16:01 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Twenty nine migrants from Africa was found dead from hypothermia by the Italian coastguard, who went to rescue a stricken ship carrying hundreds of refugees towards the European coastline.
The Italian coastguard managed to rescue 105 other migrants on Monday, February 9, 2015, off the Mediterranean Sea. "The small fishing vessel - that were carrying loads of refugees - was almost destroyed into pieces after it was hit by gale force winds and waves of up to eight metres," said a spokesperson for the Italian coastguard, Filippo Marini, as quoted by AsiaOne on Tuesday, February 10, 2015.
Due to the adverse weather conditions, the coastguard were forced to evacuate and house the refugees - most of which hails from Sub-Saharan Africa - on Lampedusa Island, which is located south of Sicily, near Libya, in the afternoon. Several migrants were then flown into other, better equipped hospitals in Sicily to be treated for their injuries.
Last year, at least 3,200 people were killed while en route to seek refuge in Italy, after having embarked on boats from Northern Africa. It is known that more than 170,000 migrants successfully made it into Italian territories in the same period in 2014.
The majority of the migrants were trying to escape from the general violence and abuses which is prevalent across East Africa and the Middle East. Many refugees travelled on land to Libya to board small vessels - operated by illegal smugglers - before travelling onwards to Italy.
It has been reported that recently, people smugglers have began to use larger vessels which could withstand the ferocious winter storms over the Mediterranean - vessels that are also better equipped to make longer journey from Syria and/or Turkey.
ASIAONE | ROSALINA