Two refugee boats capsize in 24 hours off Libya coast

Two boats carrying hundreds of passengers have capsized in a 24-hour period in the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy, possibly leaving dozens of refugees dead, according to the United Nations refugee agency.


Barbara Molinario, public information officer at the UNHCR's Italian branch, said rescue operations are complicated by the large volume of passengers on the vessels carrying refugees and migrants.

 "Usually nobody really knows the exact number of people on a boat like that," she told Al Jazeera by telephone on Thursday.

"We are now waiting for the survivors to come so we can talk to them.  That's going to be the only way to know there are people missing."

The Italian coastguard released images of a shipwreck a day earlier, in which at least five people died when the boat went over off the coast of Libya.

The blue fishing vessel, its deck heaving with people, tipped over on Wednesday after passengers rushed to one side on spotting a rescue ship.

Those on the boat, many of them men, some already wearing orange lifejackets as a precaution, were captured in rare photographs as they clung to the boat's rails or each other, or dropped into the sea.

Some are seen hanging on to the starboard edge by their fingertips as the trawler rolls, while others try to balance on the rim.

Pictures taken seconds later show the waters around the boat filled with people trying to get away from the vessel which, now overturned, begins to sink, with people still perched on its upturned hull...http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/refugee-boat-carrying-capsizes-libya-coast-160526045202245.html
26/5/16
--
-
Related:

• Migrants back on Mediterranean route for EU, thousands rescued