Thursday 23 April 2015

Update on Mediterranean migrants crisis: Funerals held in Malta for sinking victims

Soldiers carry coffins of some of the 24 people whose funerals were held in MaltaFunerals for 24 people killed in the worst ever recorded capsizing of a migrant boat in the Mediterranean have been held in Malta.

More than 800 people died in Sunday's disaster. Italian police say the captain crashed the boat by mistake against a merchant rescue ship.
The number of deaths in such incidents has now reached 1,750 so far this year.
EU leaders are holding an emergency summit later to find ways to stem the number of people risking their lives.
Women cry during a funeral service in Malta for 24 people who drowned when their ship sank in the Mediterranean

At the scene: Stuart Hughes, BBC News, Malta

The 24 men laid to rest here were mourned, even though their names are unknown.
Their plain, dark wood coffins were slowly carried from the hospital mortuary on the shoulders of members of Malta's armed forces, along a route lined with bouquets of flowers.
Migrants who themselves made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life joined Maltese government officials and international representatives in a white marquee erected on the helicopter pad outside Valletta's Mater Dei hospital.
As the coffins were set down on a red carpet, women from Somalia, Eritrea and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa wept openly, wiping away tears with their headscarves.
During a 45-minute service of remembrance, the Bishop of Gozo, Monsignor Mario Grech, and Imam Mohammed El Sadi read extracts from the Bible and the Koran.
Imam El Sadi said all those who had died were brothers before God. He told the congregation that all people were migrants and that life was a journey.
Monsignor Grech said the men were fellow human beings, regardless of creed, nationality or race.
With no known families to return their remains to, the men will be buried in common graves in Malta's Addolorata Cemetery.
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Draft proposals for the meeting of EU leaders later on Thursday include offering 5,000 places for resettlement for migrants "qualifying for protection" under a pilot project.
More than 21,000 people are estimated to have reached Italy alone this year, with more also arriving in other EU member states.
Leaders are also expected to commit to "undertake systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers".
Armed Forces of Malta soldiers carry a coffin with the body of a teenager who drowned in Sunday's disasterOne of the 24 coffins, holding the body of a teenage boy, was white
A draft document circulated ahead of the meeting says EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini "is invited to immediately begin preparations for a possible security and defence policy operation to this effect, in accordance with international law".
Other plans include supporting UN efforts to help form a stable government in Libya. Italy says 90% of the migrant boats ending up on its shores set off from Libya.
EU leaders are also expected to discuss what to do with those migrants who reach Europe. A proposal for them to be spread out more equally among all EU states is a hugely divisive issue, the BBC's Europe Editor Katya Adler says.
On Monday, the EU set out a 10-point action plan to prevent more deaths, including:
  • An increase in the financial resources of Frontex, the border agency which runs the EU's Mediterranean rescue service Triton
  • An extension of Triton's operational area
  • Deploying teams in Italy and Greece for joint processing of asylum applications
  • Fingerprinting of all migrants
The EU had been criticised over the scope of Triton, which replaced the larger Italian operation Mare Nostrum last year.
Some EU members had said Mare Nostrum was too expensive and expressed concerns that it was encouraging more migrants.
But human rights group Amnesty International said the decision to end Mare Nostrum had "contributed to a dramatic increase in migrant and refugee deaths".
The number of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa has spiked in recent months, leading to huge numbers of people trying to reach Europe in unseaworthy and often overcrowded vessels.
Map showing the most deadly Mediterranean migrant routes

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