Mediterranean Swallows Migrant Ship
On Saturday April 17, 2015, a large vessel en route to Europe from Libya capsized in the Mediterranean Sea. Shortly after sending out a distress call, the boat was met by rescuers north of Libya. The passengers on deck moved towards the rescuers weighting one end of the boat down and causing the ship to capsize. The ship’s passengers were primarily migrants and victims of human trafficking trying to reach Europe to build a better life. Multiple organizations and countries in Europe are aiding in the on going rescue operation in the Mediterranean, but there is currently some confusion surrounding the number of passengers that were on the ship. It has been estimated that about 700 people were on the boat, but some survivors claim there were hundreds more people on the boat. This disaster is unfortunately not the only one of it’s kind.
Migrants have been sailing from Africa to Europe for years, but never in such mass numbers as they are now. In recent years, war, disease and poverty in Africa have driven larger numbers of people to Europe. The danger in this voyage begins before migrants even reach the shore. These men, women and children travel for miles on foot to reach northern Africa. For the majority of them, ships belonging to human traffickers are the only ships available to take them across the Mediterranean, but the conditions on these boats are terrible. Old fishing and cargo boats are often used as makeshift passenger ships. People are stuffed into old live tanks, cargo holds and wherever else there is space. These conditions often lead to over crowded, unstable boats sending distress calls in the Mediterranean. As the number of migrant ships increase, so does the number of boats in the Mediterranean needing rescue. Unfortunately, these crises at sea often occur simultaneously and make rescuing survivors a very challenging task. The Mediterranean’s location makes it an international body of water, meaning that the patrolling and maintaining of this sea falls on multiple countries.
In this case, Europe has the responsibility of managing the Mediterranean. On Monday April 20, 2015, the European Union (EU) held a meeting in Luxembourg to discuss the immigration crisis in Europe. The EU decided to increase the number of patrol and rescue ships as well as other resources in the Mediterranean. However, the EU has yet to decide on some sort of policy regarding the massive number of refugees entering Europe. The EU will continue to work towards a solution for Europe’s immigration crisis and organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children will continue their work towards solving the issue as well.
