"The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 30,000 people have died while trying to reach Italy from North Africa since the group began keeping track in 2014. Migrants often undergo inhumane treatment at the hands of people smugglers in Libya, who demand exorbitant sums and promise an easy crossing to Europe. These migrants typically come from other parts of Africa, where they faced difficult conditions such as conflict or violence."
""The boat was really overcrowded and partially deflated," Barbara Satore, one of the rescuers, told The Associated Press. "It was a really pitch dark night with 1.5 meter (4.9 feet) waves, and the boat had been taking on water for hours." "I heard a woman screaming and a man pointing into the water," Satore said, adding that weather conditions made the rescue extremely dangerous."
"Volunteers from the organization RESQSHIP found the bodies of the three, aged 9, 11, and 17 years old. They were part of a group of 65 refugees who left Libya on Friday night in the battered vessel, hoping to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa. Their mother and brother were amongst those rescued, the group said."
An overcrowded, partially deflated rubber dinghy carrying 65 refugees left Libya for Lampedusa and encountered 1.5-meter waves and darkness. Volunteers from German NGO RESQSHIP recovered the bodies of three sisters, aged 9, 11, and 17, after they had been underwater for an extended period despite medical resuscitation attempts. Their mother and brother were rescued; the mother remained on the boat in shock and refused to leave her daughters' side. Migrants from parts of Africa face inhumane treatment by people smugglers in Libya, high fees, and are often transported on unseaworthy vessels. The International Organization for Migration estimates at least 30,000 deaths trying to reach Italy since 2014. The United Nations has accused the Libyan Coast Guard, partially funded by the European Union, of trafficking and torture.
Read at www.dw.com
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