Killed By Smugglers: 73 Presumed Dead After Shipwreck Off Libyan Coast

Picture shows an empty inflatable boat following the rescue of about 90 migrants by the Sp
PABLO GARCIA/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

At least 73 people are missing and presumed dead after being led to their deaths by people smugglers who put them on an inflatable boat that sank off the coast of Libya.

The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced Wednesday that 73 migrants were reported missing and presumed dead following the shipwreck and that so far just seven people had been rescued and eleven bodies confirmed found by local police in Libya.

“The boat, carrying around 80 people, reportedly departed from Qasr Alkayar on 14 February heading to Europe,” the group said on Twitter and added, “Seven survivors who made it back to shore in extremely dire conditions are currently in the hospital.”

According to the European Union-funded website infoMiugrants, the migrants making the dangerous crossing to European across the Mediterranean pay smugglers from £2,500 ($3,000) to £4,100 ($5,000) each for the voyage, yet despite the money involved the traffickers still put their ‘customers’ on unseaworthy, obviously dangerous boats.

So far this year, the IOM claims that at least 130 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean along the central migrant route, with over 1,450 being led to their deaths by smugglers last year.

Last year saw several horrific incidents that led to the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, such as in September when two Syrian children aged just one and two years old were allowed to die of thirst aboard a boat heading to Italy from Turkey.

A teenager and three adults also died on the voyage, which saw the boat set sail from Turkey and spend around two weeks in the Mediterranean before the survivors were rescued by Italian authorities.

Just months later in December, a toddler aged just two-years-old was found dead aboard a boat heading from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa after it sank with forty-three people on board.

According to the IOM, at least 29,000 migrants trying to reach Europe illegally have been led to their deaths by people smugglers since 2014, though due to the nature of the statistics, the number may be an underestimate of the true number of those killed.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

 

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