The latest migrant tragedies have caused the outrage of humanitarian NGOs, emphasising that is double the size compared with the Titanic tragedy.
Sarah Tyler, a spokeswoman for Save the Children in Catania, Sicily, said more than 1,000 people have died in the waters of the Mediterranean, adding “that is almost as many as died in the Titanic, and 31 times the number who died when the Costa Concordia sank.
On 19 April, Save the Children urged EU leaders to convene crisis talks in the next 48 hours to find a solution, as the Mediterranean, the EU sea reminds more and more a massive graveyard. Following the latest shipwreck, Valerio Neri, Director General of Save the Children Italy, said:
“We cannot stand by and watch while thousands of people lose their lives to follow their wish: to find a better life far from war, dictatorships and poverty. According to media reports from today, about 700 people have died, and given the percentage of minors who have arrived in recent landings, we predict that there were children amongst the latest fatality figures.”
“We can’t pretend nothing is happening. With the number of people dying at sea, not only in Italy but in all of the European Union, this means that the responsibility of the search and rescue response must be solved by the EU and all its members, especially as we predict that situation will get even worse in the next few months.”
The conditions of the boats being used by traffickers is becoming even worse the NGO stressed in a press release. The boats are overcrowded, and the violence of traffickers towards migrants, who are forced to leave despite conditions of the sea, is worsening by the day. Some children who recently landed told Save the Children staff that the boats they were in were shot at in order to make them leave.
A New Tragedy Day by Day
Today at least three migrants died when a boat, carrying 200 migrants, hit a reef atZephyros beach in Rhodes, Greece. The migrants jumped into the sea to save their lives and most of them started swimming to the shore. However, a man, a woman and a child didn’t make it.
According to media reports,local residents and hundreds of tourists were speechless as they saw hundreds of people trying desperately to stand on EU soil. Greek police and coast guard officers rushed to the scene to help the migrants reach the shore safely.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/migrant-tragedies-in-the-mediterranean-worse-than-titanic/