500 feared dead 300 miles off Malta, tragedy could be ‘mass murder’ says IOM

The International Organisation for Migration says if survivors’ accounts are verified, the sea tragedy that occurred 300 nautical miles off Maltese coast would be a mass murder.

File photo.
File photo.

Five hundred persons are thought to have lost their lives in a sea tragedy that occurred 300 nautical miles south east of Malta. According to the International Organisation for Migration, if the survivors’ accounts are verified, the deaths of the migrants would have been a mass murder.

"If this story, which the police are investigating, should be confirmed it would be the gravest case of recent years since it was not an accident but a mass murder perpetrated by criminals without scruples or respect for human life," the IOM said.

The Armed Forces of Malta, between Saturday and Sunday, rescued 11 survivors, three of which were brought to Malta.

According to what the survivors told the IOM, the smugglers used a second boat to sink the vessel after a violent clash with the migrants. The smugglers had asked the migrants to 'jump' onto a much smaller craft, but many refused. The smugglers, in the other boat proceeded to ram the migrants' vessel and sink it.

Only a few migrants managed to stay afloat, of which only two survived.

One of the two Palestinians said seven other people were hanging onto the same life jacket but the others all gradually succumbed to weariness and drowned. It is believed that the rest of the 500 migrants perished. The migrants originated from Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Sudan and included several families with children as well as unaccompanied minors.

After a day and a half in the water the two were picked up by a vessel that was transferring 386 people, plucked from another boat, to Sicily. The two Palestinians, who fled to Egypt in September were picked up by a Panamanian flagged freighter and taken to Pozzallo.

"If this story, which the police are investigating, should be confirmed it would be the gravest case of recent years since it was not an accident but a mass murder perpetrated by criminals without scruples or respect for human life. The only way to neutralise these criminal organisations is to start opening legal entry channels to Europe for all people, men, women and children, who flee from their countries in search of protection,” the IOM said.