Smiling migrants take selfies as they cross the Med in packed wooden boat – only for their vessel to sink moments later sparking rescue operation off Italian island
- 40 migrants saved off Italian island of Lampedusa today with good weather sparking wave of Med crossings
- Pictures show some of the group posing for selfies moments before the ramshackle vessel capsized
- 123,000 individual crossings registered last year, the UNHCR said, but more than 3000 migrants drowned
- Far-right candidate running for PM in Italy, Giorgia Meloni, wants the navy to blockade the Med off Libya
With mobile phone in hand, a migrant leans back on a packed wooden boat as he takes a selfie during his crossing to Europe.
But scenes of joy quickly turned to disaster off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa this morning when their overloaded vessel capsized leaving dozens stranded in the water.
Chaotic images show some 40 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan fighting to stay afloat after they tumbled into the water when the strained vessel started taking on water.
Some attempted to clamber on top of the ship’s hull as it pitched over in the water, while others clasped children as they fervently treaded water.
A rescue operation was quickly launched with Spanish NGO Open Arms plucking them from the water and safely transferring all of them to the Italian coastguard.
The images highlight the extraordinary risks migrants take with Mediterranean crossings as they seek a new life in Europe.
In 2021, 123,300 individual migrant crossings were registered across the Med according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) as people flee nations including Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Libya for the promise of a better life in Europe.
But more than 3,000 drowned after their vessels sank, the UNHCR said, and many who survive are subject to brutal treatment and abuse at the hands of people smugglers en-route to the northern shores of Africa.
With mobile phone in hand, a migrant leans back on a packed wooden boat as he takes a selfie during his crossing to Europe
Migrants smiled as they made their way across the Med just south of the Italian island of Lampedusa – but the scenes quickly turned to despair as the vessel started taking on water
Migrants swim next to their overturned wooden boat during a rescue operation by Spanish NGO Open Arms at south of the Italian Lampedusa island at the Mediterranean sea, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022
The red and blue panted wooden vessel overturned in choppy waters this morning and started to sink
Forty migrants from Eritrea and Sudan, two children and one woman, were rescued by NGO Open Arms crew members and the Italian coastguard
Migrants are hauled aboard by the Italian coastguard after their vessel overturned
In 2021 alone, around 67,500 refugees and migrants arrived in the Italy, with around half landing on the small island of Lampedusa, near the coasts of Tunisia and Libya.
It comes as the frontrunner to become the next Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, last weekend called on the navy to blockade the north of Africa in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants entering southern Italy.
The leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party said the navy should screen all migrants attempting to cast off from African shores and turn back any who cannot prove they are genuine refugees.
The aim of many migrants who attempt the perilous crossing is to reach the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa.
Located south of Sicily, the island is one of the southernmost points of Europe which has a dedicated migrant centre designed to provide temporary accommodation.
But many of the Europe-bound migrants are denied asylum because they fled poverty and not persecution or war, and the Lampedusa centre is hundreds of people beyond its capacity due to the sheer number of summer crossings.
In 2021 alone, around 67,500 refugees and migrants arrived in the Italy, with around half on Lampedusa due to its proximity to Libya and Tunisia.
Meloni, 45, has promised to take a hard stance on the crossings should she be elected to replace outgoing PM Mario Draghi this September.
Under her proposed plan, the Italian navy would blockade the Mediterranean and would ensure all migrants who attempt to leave are held in detention centres in Africa rather than Italy.
Only migrants who are able to prove they are fleeing war and seeking asylum would be granted passage to Italy – the others turned back.
Speaking at the weekend to a TV channel owned by the family of scandal-ridden former PM Silvio Berlusconi, Meloni declared: ‘The problem of migrant arrivals on our shores must be tackled at its source, with a ‘naval blockade’.’
She pitched the idea as a ‘European mission to negotiate together with Libya, the possibility to block the inflatable boats during their departure.’
But her designs came under attack from political opponents, who said any attempt to blockade the shores of a foreign nation would be a de-facto declaration of war.
‘Meloni, do you know that under international law it is considered an act of war,’ tweeted former house speaker Laura Boldrini.
‘Do you know that more ships would be required than the navy has? Do you know the number of dead would outnumber those rejected?’
Giorgia Meloni, current frontrunner to become Italy’s next prime minister, has proposed blockading the coast of Libya to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean
A Spanish NGO Open Arms crew member helps migrants to get onboard after their vessel capsized this morning
Migrants cling to the hull of their overturned wooden boat during a rescue operation by Spanish NGO Open Arms south of the Italian Lampedusa island
Ms Meloni wants all new arrivals – both migrants and refugees – to be detained in Africa so their eligibility to travel can be assessed before any of them are allowed to come to Italy (file)
Italy’s firebrand former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has also put migration at the centre of his electoral campaign, and last week personally visited the Lampedusa migration centre.
Salvini also pledged to move screening centres for people seeking political asylum to northern Africa, alleging that said just 15 per cent of current arrivals qualify as refugees.
He also voiced concern that the Lampedusa, Italy´s largest, was nearing collapse due to overcrowding, calling it ‘unworthy of a civilised country.’
Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, Greek authorities are into the second day of a search and rescue operation for dozens of migrants who are still missing after the boat they were on sank in rough seas off a southeastern Greek island earlier this week.
A Greek navy vessel and three nearby merchant ships were still searching this morning for between around 30 to 50 people believed missing after the boat that had been carrying them from the Turkish coast of Antalya to Italy capsized in the early hours of Wednesday.
No further survivors have been located since 29 men from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq were rescued shortly after the boat sank about 33 nautical miles (38 miles) southeast of the island of Karpathos, the Greek coast guard said.
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