The dramatic situation of Italy’s overpacked migrant welcome centers has obliged authorities to delay debarkation of hundreds of new arrivals, leaving them for the moment on board the rescue vessels that brought them.
Between Monday and Tuesday, a record number of over ten thousand mostly African migrants were rescued in the Strait of Sicily and brought to Italy, bringing the year’s total to over 142,000.
In one of this year’s worst Mediterranean Sea disasters, more than 700 migrants were aboard a vessel that capsized off the coast of the Greek Island of Crete late Thursday, and despite rescue operations that managed to save 340 lives, hundreds are still missing.
In the latest tragedy in the Strait of Sicily an overloaded barge carrying more than 500 migrants capsized off the Libyan coast Wednesday, resulting in the drowning of at least seven of the passengers.
Contents: UK bitterly sends troops back Afghanistan’s Helmand province; Number of migrants entering Europe this year passes the one million mark
