Massive loss of life reported in latest Mediterranean tragedy

Reports from survivors of an overcrowded boat that sank in the Mediterranean Sea hinted to what could be one of the worst tragedies involving refugees and migrants in 2016.

If confirmed, as many as 500 people would have lost their lives when the large boat went down in the Mediterranean Sea at an unknown location between Libya and Italy. The 41 survivors – 37 men, three women and a three-year-old child – were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Kalamata, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece on 16 April.

The survivors told UNHCR staff that they had been part of a group of between 100 and 200 people who had departed from a locality near Tobruk in Libya.

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

ESO: Background information: EU readies for massive migration flows from Libya http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-readies-for-massive-migration-flows-from-libya/

EUObserver, 21.04.16: Mediterranean migrant disaster gets muted response https://euobserver.com/migration/133153

The Local.it, 19.04.16: Italy close to raising body-filled migrant disaster ship http://www.thelocal.it/20160419/italy-says-close-to-raising-migrant-disaster-ship

The Local.it, 18.04.16: Eight dead, nearly 20 missing in migrant boat tragedy http://www.thelocal.it/20160418/over-400-italy-bound-migrants-drowned-in-latest-boat-tragedy

Deutsche Welle, 18.04.16: Italy's president: Hundreds feared dead in new migrant disaster http://dw.com/p/1IXh0

France24, 21.04.16: Hundreds of migrants feared dead in shipwreck off Libya http://www.france24.com/en/20160420-hundreds-migrants-feared-dead-shipwreck-off-libya-unhcr

The Wall Street Journal, 20.04.16: Hundreds Feared Dead After Boat Sinks off Libyan Coast www.wsj.com/articles/up-to-500-migrants-feared-dead-after-boat-sinks-off-libyan-coast-1461160552

The New York Times, 20.04.16: 500 Migrants May Have Died in Sinking of Boat in Mediterranean, U.N. Says http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/world/europe/500-may-have-died-in-sinking-of-migrant-boat-in-mediterranean-un-says.html

Deutsche Welle, 22.04.16: Two survivors from Ethiopia and Somalia tell of mystery migrant shipwreck http://dw.com/p/1Iado

Spiegel Online International, 27.04.16: Ticket to Europe: Refugee Crisis Focus Shifts to North Africa http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/refugee-crisis-focus-shifts-to-north-africa-a-1089536.html

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