Immigrants Drowned
Hundreds of immigrants drowned in the Mediterranean
Hundreds of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa were feared to have died because of drowning last September 6, 2014 in the Mediterranean Sea. It was after a group of people smugglers smashed their boat on purpose that eventually leads into the horrific submerged.
This is not the first tragedy of this kind. The first incident was last week as well where five hundred people from the coast of Egypt sailed towards Malta and almost all of them died because of drowning. However, a total of eleven passengers managed to survive and a freighter saved nine of them.
According to Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman of IOM Italy, the survivors stated that the ship is carrying an estimated of five hundred passengers, two of the survivors was brought to Sicily and the other nine were rescued by Maltese and Greek ships. However, the rest of the passengers have perished. The two survivors spent a day floating on the water before they were rescued, he added.
The survivors said that the boat contains children and none of them survived the sinking. They stated that it started with an enraged argument that leads to the intentionally ramming of their boat, which is the reason why the boat capsized.
IOM said in one of their statements regarding the incident that if the story that the survivors are stating were true, which the police are currently investigating then this incident would be the worst shipwreck this year. It is definitely not a simple accident, it is a mass murder made by criminals that has no respect nor value for human life, he added.
Aside from the statement that the survivors released, the police are also looking for overloading factor because recently, there are reports of sunken boats because of the same reason. People desperately want to enter Europe and human traffickers are abusing their needs. They do not care if their boat is over crowded, as long as they would earn a lot and authorities make sure that these people would be properly reprimanded.
Actress Angelina Jolie, who is a known diplomat of United Nation’s refugee agency said that there is an obvious link between the conflict in Syria and other countries, and the increase in deaths at Mediterranean Sea and urged the International community to wake up to the scale of crisis. People and authorities needs to completely understand what drives those people in sending their children and loved ones on an unsafe and crowded vessel, which is their overwhelming want to find refuge, she added.
This horrific tragedy might be the worst incident this year at Mediterranean Sea. Families and relatives of the hundreds of passengers who have died in this incident seeks for justice, even if the authorities are already investigating it and according to them, they are doing their best to resolve the case. People are wishing not only for this case’s resolution but also for a long-term solution for this problem to avoid this kind of horrible incident that might take thousands of innocent lives.
