NGOs condemn “rescue gap” because 10 migrants were killed on a boat outside Libya Migration News

NGOs say the gradual cancellation of state search and rescue operations has made migrant travel in the Mediterranean more dangerous.

Ten people have been found dead on a boat overflowing with migrants and refugees off the Libyan coast, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement that NGOs warned it was a “rescue gap” in the Mediterranean Sea. .

MSF said the migrants died after being drowned for 13 hours on the bottom of a wooden boat. The charity said its Geo Barents rescue boat survived 99 on Tuesday and found 10 victims drowned due to hydrocarbon poisoning and overcrowding.

“These deaths are a clear sign of the failure of European states’ migration policies and unacceptable complicity with the Libyan coastguard to facilitate setbacks,” Juan Matías Gil, head of MSF’s Search and Rescue operations, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

“What we continue to demand is an official search and rescue mechanism with a clear mandate to prevent death at sea.”

10 preventable deaths. like the other 1,225 who lost their lives on the cross #Ekin from the beginning of the year. 10 people drowned after being stranded at sea for 13 hours. Deadly in the middle #Ekin route. How can we accept that in 2021? Photo © Candida Lobes pic.twitter.com/0thOsa6btS

– MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) November 16, 2021

The rescue carried out by the Geneva charity was the third in less than 24 hours, bringing the total to 186 people aboard the Geo Barents, the youngest of whom was 10 months old.

Alarm Phone, a voluntary telephone service for migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean, received its first GMT emergency call at around 9.30am on Tuesday and alerted all major authorities, including Italian and Maltese coastguards.

A second call for help was received a few hours later when the boat began to take on water.

“The state authorities did not respond, the only one who responded was Geo Barents,” Al Jazeera Chiara Denaro Alarm Phone volunteer said.

Denaro said the incident was indicative of a “rescue gap” in the Central Mediterranean, where the lack of European and national rescue operations has left NGOs struggling to provide adequate rescue services.

At least 1,236 migrants have been killed this year in the central Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In recent years, the European Union has moved from conducting search and rescue missions to providing training, equipment and assistance to Libyan coastguards. violence against migrants In Libyan detention centers.

The IOM estimates that 29,400 people have been captured by Libyan coastguards since January, one in two migrants who left the war-torn African country.

IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo told Al Jazeera that the migrants had returned to “abuses they were fleeing.”

“Libya is not a safe haven,” Di Giacomo said, adding that a county without a post-landing protection chain should not have a maritime search and rescue (SAR) area.

Operation EU Triton and the phasing out of Italy’s Mare Nostrum have made the journey across the Mediterranean increasingly dangerous for migrants, according to the IOM representative.

“It takes hours, even days, for someone to answer an SOS call. This is unacceptable. Migrant ships can sink at any time and delaying rescue operations can be life-threatening, ”Di Giacomo said.

NGOs have also denounced what states see as punitive action against charities operating in the Mediterranean. Geo Barents, who was abducted by Italian coastguards in July for alleged technical irregularities, began work in May and was released three weeks later.

MSF said in a statement at the time that it had carried out “discriminatory” inspections and hijacked the ship to prevent rescue missions in the Mediterranean.