Refugees on a Libyan Coast Guard boat after a rescue operation (archive image)
Photo: ISMAIL ZITOUNY / REUTERS
Once again, many people drowned in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean on their way from North Africa to Europe.
43 migrants died off the coast of Tunisia, the aid organization Red Crescent reported on Saturday.
The dpa news agency described the people as missing.
They tried to get into the European Union by water.
According to the information, 84 people were pulled out of the water by emergency services and survived.
The Reuters news agency reported that refugees from Eritrea, Sudan, Bangladesh and Egypt were on the boat. The journey began in the north-west of Libya, and Lampedusa was named as a possible destination. The Italian island is often visited by migrants who, in their desperation, dare to board overcrowded boats that are barely seaworthy to get to Europe. According to UN data, around 720 migrants died in the central Mediterranean this year.
Already at the beginning of June there was an accident off Tunisia.
20 people died.
In the past spring and summer months, more people tried to flee from Tunisia and Libya across the Mediterranean to Europe.
The number of people who drowned in the process also increased.
In the past few years, hundreds of thousands have made the dangerous journey to escape war or poverty.
Italy seizes MSF ship
In Italy, the number of refugees reaching the coast had decreased in recent years.
But it is currently rising again.
The Italian Ministry of the Interior counted almost 20,000 people this year, almost three times as many as in the first six months of last year.
Nevertheless, the authorities are increasingly targeting ships of sea rescuers.
Only on Friday was the "Geo Barents" prevented from leaving the port city of Augusta by Doctors Without Borders.
The aid organization announced on Saturday.
Inspectors had inspected the ship for several hours and then arrested it for alleged defects.
Doctors Without Borders suspects that this should make the work of the sea rescuers more difficult.
It's not the only ship affected.
The rescue ships "Sea-Eye 4" and "Sea-Watch 4" are also currently not allowed to go to the Mediterranean to help drowning people.
According to a spokeswoman, the most recently established »Sea-Watch 3« received approval to sail to its Spanish home port of Burriana in order to repair defects.
fww / rtr / dpa
