Tragic! 250 drown after rubber boat capsizes in Mediterranean Sea

No less than 250 migrants have been reported drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after two partially submerged rubber dinghies which ferried them were found off the coast of Libya.

Coast guards said the vessels would typically carry 120-140 people each who were journeying the high sea to seek new pastures and are believed to have drowned.

According to a spokeswoman for the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms Laura Lanuza, its boat, Golfo Azzuro, recovered five floating bodies on Thursday close to the dinghies, about 30km off the Libyan coast.

Read also: 3-yrs after disaster, S’Korean sunken ship slowly emerges

“We don’t think there can be any other explanation than that these dinghies would have been full of people,” Lanuza said.

“In over a year we have never seen any of these dinghies that were anything other than packed,” she added.

According to statistics made available by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) more refugees died in the Mediterranean over the first nine weeks of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016.

Also, from January 1 to March 9 this year, at least 521 people drowned while attempting to cross the rough waters compared with 471 in the same period a year ago.

RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now