UN: Mediterranean shipwreck killed 400 migrants

World Today

Survivors from the shipwreck of a boat arrive on April 15, 2015 aboard the tanker Maria Bottiglieri in the port of Corigliano Calabro. Italian coastguards intercepted 42 boats on April 12 and 13, carrying 6,500 migrants attempting to make the hazardous crossing to Europe. AFP PHOTO / ALFONSO DI VINCENZO

The U.N. refugee agency says the shipwreck in the Mediterranean this week, in which 400 migrants are presumed to have died, is among the deadliest single incidents in the last decade.

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The tragedy comes amid an unprecedented wave of migration toward Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

UNHCR Italy spokeswoman Barbara Molinario says 900 migrants have died or gone missing at sea so far this year, part of a phenomenon the agency has been tracking since 2011. In most cases, no bodies are found and the deaths are presumed based on survivor accounts or, when no boats are recovered, reports by family members whose loved ones never arrive in Europe.

The UNHCR estimates 3,500 migrants died in the Mediterranean last year, up from 600 in 2013.

Story by the Associated Press.


Kathleen Newland on dangers for migrants

This recent capsizing highlights the dangers for thousands of migrants and the strains put on European nations. CCTV spoke to Kathleen Newland. She’s the Co-Founder of the Migration Policy Institute. That’s a think tank based in Washington that studies the movement of people worldwide.