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Notícias: UNHCR News Story: More than 1,500 drown or go missing trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2011

More than 1,500 drown or go missing trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2011

«GENEVA, January 31 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on Tuesday released figures showing that more than 1,500 irregular migrants or refugees drowned or went missing last year while attempting crossings of the Mediterranean Sea.

"This makes 2011 the deadliest year for this region since UNHCR started to record these statistics in 2006. The previous high was in 2007 when 630 people were reported dead or missing," Senior Communications Officer Sybella Wilkes told journalists in Geneva, while adding that at least 18 people had drowned this year to date after setting off from Libya for Europe.

"Our teams in Greece, Italy, Libya and Malta, warn that the actual number of deaths at sea may be even higher," Wilkes said. "Our estimates are based on interviews with people who reached Europe on boats, telephone calls and e-mails from relatives, as well as reports from Libya and Tunisia from survivors whose boats either sank or were in distress in the early stages of the journey," she explained.

Wilkes also revealed that a record 58,000 irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees managed to make it to European shores last year after setting off in boats from Asia or North Africa. The previous high was in 2008, when 54,000 people reached Greece, Italy and Malta.

During 2009 and 2010, border control measures sharply reduced the number of arrivals in Europe. The frequency of boat arrivals increased in early 2011 as the governments in Tunisia and Libya collapsed.

The majority of last year's arrivals by sea landed in Italy (56,000, of whom 28,000 were Tunisian) while Malta and Greece received 1,574 and 1,030 respectively. The majority arrived in the first half of the year and most were migrants, not asylum-seekers or refugees. Only three smuggler's boats arrived after mid-August.

UNHCR's Wilkes said that so far this year, "despite high seas and poor weather conditions," three boats had attempted the perilous journey from Libya and one of them – carrying 55 people – had gone missing.

"Libyan coastguards informed UNHCR that 15 dead bodies, all identified as Somali, were found washed up on the beaches [of Libya] last week, including 12 women, two men and a baby girl. On Sunday, three more bodies were recovered," Wilkes said. It was later confirmed that all those who drowned were Somali residents of the makeshift site in Tripoli known as the Railway Project.

The other two boats made it to Malta and Italy, but required rescuing. The Italian coastguard saved 72 Somalis, including a pregnant woman and 29 children, on January 13. The second boat was rescued two days later by the Maltese armed forces with the support of the US navy and a commercial vessel. In total 68 people were rescued from a drifting dinghy.

"UNHCR welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities to rescue boats in distress in the Mediterranean. We renew our call to all shipmasters in the Mediterranean . . . to remain vigilant and to carry out their duty of rescuing vessels in distress," Wilkes said.»

Fonte: UNHCR Flickr

Vídeo: Lampedusa day by day - Promo 2011

O outro lado da ilha...



Lampedusa day by day - Promo 2011 - YouTube

Notícia: (em português) Naufrágio de barco de imigrantes na Líbia tem 15 mortos e 40 desaparecidos

 TRÍPOLI — Quinze imigrantes somalis morreram e outros 40 passageiros estão desaparecidos após o naufrágio nesta semana de um navio perto da cidade líbia de Misrata (oeste), anunciou neste sábado o embaixador da Somália em Trípoli, Abdelghami Wais.

"Quinze corpos foram encontrados na costa de Misrata, entre os quais o de uma criança e os de doze mulheres. Os outros foram considerados desaparecidos", declarou Wais em sua volta de Misrata, onde as vítimas, encontradas na quarta, foram enterradas.

Segundo o embaixador, o navio transportava 55 pessoas, todas elas imigrantes clandestinos que tentavam chegar à Europa.

Na terça-feira, o ministro líbio do Interior, Fawzi Abdelali, indicou que seu país enfrenta "enormes problemas" devido à afluência de milhares de imigrantes clandestinos.

"A Líbia precisa de muitos recursos para controlar (a imigração). A Líbia não será a guarda fronteiriça da Europa. Mesmo que ela quisesse, não poderia", havia dito o ministro.

No início de dezembro, as autoridades líbias anunciaram a interceptação de um barco transportando mais de 400 imigrantes africanos que iam para a Itália.

Muitos africanos se arriscam em embarcações precárias para tentar a perigosa travessia a partir da costa líbia por Malta ou pela ilha italiana de Lampedusa, ao longo da Sicília. Centenas morrem todos os anos.

Fonte:Google Notícias: AFP

Notícia: Boat capsizes off Libya coast: 15 dead | News24

Boat capsizes off Libya coast: 15 dead | News24

as travessias continuam...


«Tripoli - At least 15 Somali migrants were killed and 40 left missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya this week, the Somali ambassador to Tripoli said on Saturday.

"Fifteen bodies, including one child and 12 women, were recovered off the coast of Misrata after their boat sank," ambassador Abdelghami Wais told AFP, adding the bodies were found on Wednesday on the shore of the western port city.

The boat had been carrying 55 Somalis, Wais said, and the other passengers were still missing. "I've just returned from Misrata after the burials," the envoy said.»

Ler o resto aqui: http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Boat-capsizes-off-Libya-coast-15-dead-20120128

Novas datas do espectáculo "Lampedusa"

Na Casa de Teatro de Sintra:

17 a 26 de Fevereiro de 2012

Sextas, Sábados e Domingos, às 21h30

Notícia: (EN) Centenas de Tunisinos que rumaram a Lampedusa em 2011 continuam desaparecidos | Migrants at Sea

Hundreds of Tunisians Who Sailed to Lampedusa in 2011 Remain Missing | MIGRANTS AT SEA

Hundreds of Tunisians who departed Tunisia for Lampedusa by sea in early 2011 remain missing. Some of the missing almost certainly died at sea, but family members remain hopeful that others survived the voyage and are now in Italy or elsewhere in Europe. Earlier this week dozens of mothers of the missing demonstrated outside the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a visit by an Italian parliamentary delegation led by Margherita Boniver. The mothers have been holding daily demonstrations calling for assistance from Tunisian and Italian authorities. The two governments have been asked to cross check fingerprint information. Tunisia collects fingerprint information for national identity cards and Italian authorities have collected fingerprint information from arriving migrants. There is speculation that some of the migrants may have used false names upon reaching Italy and as a result are more difficult to locate.

Click here (IT), here (IT), here (FR), and here (FR) for articles.
Click here for Facebook Page dedicated to finding missing Tunisians.
Click here for Storie Migranti Petition for missing Tunisian migrants / Appello per i migranti tunisini disperse / نداء من أجل التونسيين المهاجرين المفقودين / Appel pour les migrants tunisiens disparus.

Fonte: Migrants at Sea