Italian coastguard rescues thousands of migrants and refugees in Mediterranean

News Stories, 14 April 2015

© UNHCR/F.Malavolta
A UNHCR staff member watches as people rescued from the Mediterranean disembark from an Italian Coastguard vessel at Palermo, Sicily, this morning.

GENEVA, April 14 (UNHCR) The UN refugee agency on Tuesday renewed its call for stepped up rescue operations in the Mediterranean after the Italian Coastguard saved some 8,500 migrants and refugees trying to cross the high seas by irregular routes to Europe from North Africa.

Those rescued since last Friday included an estimated 3,000 people in four boats and 16 dinghies rescued on Monday. At the same time, at least nine people are known to have drowned. These figures are provisional and could rise, as not all the boats have disembarked yet and some are still on their way towards various ports in southern Italy.

The coastguard often requests merchant ships to take part in search-and-rescue operations if all other vessels are being used. On Monday, seven ships travelling towards Libya were asked to help boats in distress and to take those rescued to Sicily. UNHCR has also called for a compensation scheme to alleviate the costs of rescue operations for commercial vessels.

Among those arriving at Palermo early Tuesday was 30-year-old Gebre from Eritrea, who said his boat left Tripoli three days earlier carrying about 400 people. "It was dark and so crowded I could not even move," he said. "After the first night of travel, the boat started taking on water; I have never been so scared. I felt helpless and terrified. Luckily, the Italian Coastguard came shortly after and rescued us all."

Aali, a 21-year-old Libyan from Sirte, said he fled after his brother was killed and his food shop torched by militants. The war changed everything," he said, adding: "Was there really an alternative to this dangerous sea journey?"

UNHCR praised the commitment shown by the Italian authorities in rescuing people in need on the high seas, before renewing an appeal for stepped up rescue efforts and the urgent establishment of a robust European search-and-rescue operation.

This year's toll of dead and missing in the Mediterranean Sea is now well over 500, a number which is 30 times higher than the same period of 2014. These figures show that not enough resources are being used to address the population flows and that, without proper search, rescue and monitoring operations at sea, many more people will die trying to reach safety in Europe.

UNHCR is also calling for legal, safe alternatives for those fleeing conflict and persecution, so that they are not forced to attempt the crossing to Europe by sea.

In the Gulf of Yemen, meanwhile, refugees continue to arrive in Djibouti and Somalia from Yemen, with a total of 1,260 people arriving by boat to both countries over the past two weeks.

All those arriving in Djibouti were Yemeni nationals, aside from three Syrians. The latest new arrivals have fled the intense violence in Aden, whereas earlier waves came mostly from Bab el-Mandeb.

In Djibouti, refugees are registered and receive medical checks and vaccinations before being transferred to a new camp under construction at Markazi, which has 70 tents in place so far.

A total of 915 people, including 156 Yemenis, have arrived across the Gulf of Aden, in Somaliland and Puntland. Recent arrivals to Bossaso port in Puntland have departed from Al Mukalla port in Yemen, and included women and children who arrived extremely thirsty and asking for water.

One woman was heavily pregnant and taken to the Bossaso health centre to deliver her baby. Recent arrivals to Berbera port in Somaliland left Mukha port in Yemen, with other ports closed. The refugees said they paid US$50 per person and that many more people were waiting to depart.

UNHCR and its partners are making contingency plans to receive up to 30,000 refugees in Djibouti and 100,000 in Somalia over the next six months

Inside Yemen, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate as conflict spreads. Eighteen out of 22 governorates are now affected by conflict. "Many of the 250,000 mainly Somali refugees in Yemen are also affected by the conflict and we continue to see an increase in people moving from urban areas around Aden to the Kharaz refugee camp, hosting 18,000 people," a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile boats also continue to arrive on the Yemen coast. Last Sunday, 251 people (mainly Ethiopians, but also Somalis) arrived at Mayfa'a. UNHCR partners and staff are registering new arrivals.

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UNHCR Central Mediterranean Sea Initiative (CMSI)

EU solidarity for rescue-at-sea and protection of Asylum Seekers and Migrants.

Rescue at Sea on the Mediterranean

Every year tens of thousands of people risk their lives by crossing the Mediterranean on overcrowded and often unseaworthy boats in a bid to reach Europe. Many of them are fleeing violence and persecution and are in need of international protection. Thousands die every year trying to make it to places like Malta or Italy's tiny Lampedusa Island. It took the loss of some 600 people in boat sinkings last October to focus world attention on this humanitarian tragedy. Italy has since launched a rescue-at-sea operation using naval vessels, which have saved more than 10,000 people. Photographer Alfredo D'Amato, working with UNHCR, was on board the San Giusto, flagship of the Italian rescue flotilla, when rescued people were transferred to safety. His striking images follow.

Rescue at Sea on the Mediterranean

Rescue at Sea

Summer, with its fair weather and calmer seas, often brings an increase in the number of people risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean and seek asylum in Europe. But this year the numbers have grown by a staggering amount. In the month of June, the Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation picked up desperate passengers at a rate of more than 750 per day.

In late June, UNHCR photographer Alfredo D'Amato boarded the San Giorgio, an Italian naval ship taking part in the operation, to document the rescue process - including the first sighting of boats from a military helicopter, the passengers' transfer to small rescue boats and then the mother ship, and finally their return to dry land in Puglia, Italy.

In the span of just six hours on 28 June, the crew rescued 1,171 people from four overcrowded boats. Over half were from war-torn Syrian, mostly families and large groups. Others came from Eritrea and Sudan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia, Bangladesh and beyond. D'Amato's images and the interviews that accompanied them are windows into the lives of people whose situation at home had become so precarious that they were willing to risk it all.

Rescue at Sea

Fleeing Libya by sea

Thousands of people, mainly sub-Saharan Africans, are taking to the sea in ancient, leaky and overcrowded boats to escape war in their adopted homeland. Libya. The destination of choice is the Italian resort island of Lampedusa, some 600 kilometres north of Libya in the Mediterranean. Many of the passengers arrive traumatized and exhausted from the high seas journey. Others perish en route.

One Ivorian migrant describes life in Tripoli before leaving: "There was no peace. There was rifle fire everywhere. Then NATO started to bomb. We had nothing to eat. Some Libyans started to attack strangers at night, to steal your money, your mobile, whatever you have ... No way to stay there with them. Better to flee."

UNHCR estimates that one in 10 people die during the sea journey from Libya. Those bodies which wash ashore get a simple burial in Lampedusa's cemetery.

May 2011

Fleeing Libya by sea

Italy: Desperate Rescue at SeaPlay video

Italy: Desperate Rescue at Sea

Tens of thousands are fleeing from the North African coast, seeking safety in Europe via a dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossings. Many are Syrian refugees, many others come from Sub-Saharan Africa - all risk their lives.