The immigration crisis in Europe is becoming too much to bear for many people.
European officials believe that more than 200 migrants are dead after their boat sunk off of Libya’s coast. The organization Proactiva Open Arms claims they recovered only five bodies from the accident scene, where two boats capsized. However, the boats are able to hold more than 100 people each.
Laura Lanuza, a Proactiva official said the five bodies they recovered appeared that they men drowned.
While Italy’s coast guard confirmed the five deaths, they did not confirm that they received distress calls from the boats. Accordingly, they could not settle on a body count estimation.
Despite the coast guard’s claim, Lanuza said at least 240 migrants likely died when the boats capsized. She said that smugglers often overload migrants’ boats, causing many migrants to drown.
“We brought on board five corpses recovered from the sea, but no lives,” she said. “It is a harsh reality check of the suffering here that is invisible in Europe.”
The number of drownings in the Mediterranean sharply increased this year because migrants are no longer able to travel between Turkey and Greece. Accordingly, this is only one of many cases of migrants leaving Libya and traveling through Italy to reside in Europe. In fact, the Italian coast guard attempted more than 40 rescue operations within only a few days.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 20,000 migrants traveled into Italy in 2017 alone. Additionally, they predict at least 550 people died during their travels toward the country.
While IOM spokesman Joel Millman said it is common for migration to increase in the spring, it has never increased so drastically.
“We have yet to complete March, and we are already racing at a pace of arrivals that has exceeded anything we’ve seen before in the Mediterranean,” he said. “This is typical of spring, getting very busy, but it’s not typical to have the numbers be so high this early and the corresponding deaths that go with it.”
Migrating across the Mediterranean
Just in January, more than 200 refugees died while seeking refuge by crossing the Mediterranean. Extreme weather conditions and desperation led to many people freezing to death and drowning in the sea. During many group migrations, only a handful of people survives the trip.
The shortest trip possible is nearly 300 miles across the Mediterranean. Additionally, most people must trek hundreds of miles to simply get to the Libyan coast. Each refugee pays smugglers more than $1,000 to help them get across the sea and away from the political turmoil.
