The NGO SOS Méditerranée said Thursday April 22 that it had spotted a dozen bodies off the coast of Libya near an overturned inflatable boat which had been reported in distress with around 130 people on board.
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SOS Méditerranée was warned on Tuesday by Alarm Phone, a structure of volunteers which alerts on cases of migrants in difficulty, of the presence of three boats in international waters off Libya.
The Marseille-based NGO's Ocean Viking, as well as two merchant ships, visited the area in difficult conditions with waves of six meters.
A merchant vessel first spotted three bodies and then an aircraft from Frontex, the European border surveillance agency, located the wreckage of an inflatable boat. "
Since our arrival there today, we have not found any survivors although we have been able to see at least ten bodies near the wreckage,
" Luisa Albera, search and rescue coordinator at board of the Ocean Viking.
Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that the bodies of 41 migrants, including at least one child, had been recovered after the sinking of their makeshift boat off the Tunisian coast. And the crew of the Ocean Viking specifies that they also searched on Wednesday, without success, for a wooden boat in distress with about 40 people on board. At least 290 migrants have died since January 1, 2021 in the Mediterranean, according to the UN.
