{"id":898,"date":"2015-04-21T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=898"},"modified":"2015-10-16T11:54:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T09:54:42","slug":"u-n-estimates-up-to-850-migrants-perished-in-capsized-boat-off-libya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=898","title":{"rendered":"U.N. estimates up to 850 migrants perished in capsized boat off Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anthony Faiola \/ Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin, Stefano Pitrelli in Treviso, Italy, and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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BERLIN \u2014\u00a0The United Nations refugee agency estimated Tuesday that as many as 850 migrants had perished in a boat capsizing this week off the coast of Libya, as the ship\u2019s captain and a crew member were taken into custody on criminal \u00adcharges.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The U.N. estimate would confirm fears that the accident was the single worst disaster involving the flow of migrants seeking to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n

But Italian prosecutors gave a broader range on the possible death toll, saying that interviews with survivors placed the number of victims between 400 and 950.<\/p>\n

They said crew members from the Portuguese merchant vessel that had tried to aid the ship had estimated about 850 were aboard. Only 28 migrants survived.<\/p>\n

[3 reasons why Europe is being held responsible for migrant deaths<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

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The United Nations said Sunday’s shipwreck in the Mediterranean killed more than 800 migrants, calling it “the deadliest incident in the Mediterranean that we have recorded.” (Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A substantial number of passengers \u2014 including scores of women and children \u2014 perished Sunday as they were trapped below decks on the three-tiered vessel, apparently helpless as the boat tipped over, according to interviews with survivors.<\/p>\n

Coupled with previous fatalities during the first half of the month, the estimate by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees would put the migrant death toll for April so far well over 1,000 \u2014 making it \u201cthe worst month ever recorded,\u201d said Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the refu\u00adgee agency.<\/p>\n

[Amid flood of refugees to Europe, Italy opens a back door<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s office said \u2014 according to witnesses \u2014 that the capsized ship left from somewhere near Tripoli on Thursday evening. The migrants had been kept \u2014 up to 30 days \u2014 inside a farm near the port and were loaded onto trucks in groups of 30 before they embarked. In at least one instance, one of the migrants was hit with a club because he wanted to go to the bathroom and did not ask for permission. Each passenger had to pay 500 to 1,000 Libyan dinars for the trip.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also offered more insight into what went wrong in the inky waters that night.<\/p>\n

They said the capsizing appeared to be the product of two factors. The captain, they said, executed a faulty maneuver when attempting to steer toward the King Jacob, the Portuguese vessel whose crew was attempting a rescue, leading to a collision. At the same time, migrants shifted to one side of the overloaded boat, leading it to capsize.<\/p>\n

With more migrants streaming toward Europe \u2014 including three more reported dead off the coast of Greece on Tuesday \u2014 aid agencies feared the numbers would yet rise.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Illegal migration into Europe\u00a0View Graphic\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, the Italian coast guard launched a dawn rescue about 80 miles southeast of Calabria, saving 446 migrants aboard a fishing boat that was starting to sink. All passengers \u2014 including 59 children and 95 women \u2014 were taken aboard an Italian navy vessel.<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s tragedy, Italian prosecutors said Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, the Tunisian captain, and Mahmud Bikhit, 25, a Syrian crew member, were taken into custody after a ship carrying survivors docked in Catania, Sicily.<\/p>\n

Both men were charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration. The captain was also charged with reckless multiple homicide and faulty handling of a vessel at sea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anthony Faiola \/ Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin, Stefano Pitrelli in Treviso, Italy, and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report BERLIN \u2014\u00a0The United Nations refugee agency estimated Tuesday that as many as 850 migrants had perished in a boat capsizing this week off the coast of Libya, as the ship\u2019s captain and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,72,79,50,89],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washpost","tag-esteri","tag-immigrazione","tag-migrazioni","tag-politica","tag-unione-europea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":899,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}