Yet Another Migrant Tragedy

"Many people were on an overcrowded rubber dinghy that was deflating, and they were threatened by armed men, who fired shots.''

"They lived the horror of being separated from their wives and daughters, who were taken away." 

Maria Eliana Tunno, psychologist, Doctors Without Borders

"MSF team witnessed another tragedy this morning while arriving to rescue people in distress on a deflating rubber boat, with armed men on a fast boat in their close vicinity."

"Survivors reported that 29 women and children had been intercepted at gunpoint before our arrival."

"Survivors are anxious and deeply concerned about the fate of their female and underage relatives, who were beaten and taken at gunpoint and will once more face the cycle of violence, detention, abuse and extortion."

MSF social media post

Photo: MSF

 

Over 62,000 migrants so far this year have arrived by sea to Italy. Large as that number appears, it is a large drop from the over 152,000 migrants who made the perilous journey over the same period in 2023.

Despite the hardships and the danger, let alone the news that trickles back to them of the disastrous outcomes that many migrants like themselves have experienced, the migrants seem determined to take their chances and they continue leaving their places of origin on the chance their futures will be assured.

 

So far this  year, 2,124 migrants have died in the attempt they committed to,  in making the crossing this year over the Central Mediterranean, according to reports from the United Nations. One such group recently, engaged in their effort to make a new life for themselves elsewhere than Eritrea, Yemen and Ethiopia were exposed to and became victims of armed marauders. Armed men in two speedboats abducted women and children and no one has any idea what has become of them. 

They were with their families when their overloaded rubber dinghy with a total of 112 migrants began deflating just off the Libyan coast, their debarkation point. Although their passage through Libya comes with the very real danger of abuse and violence, and even death, a kind of mass social psychosis appears to convince  would-be migrants that their efforts will be rewarded, that they will be immune from the dreadful experiences of others before them. 

 

They feel compelled to make the effort, and only they know why; or perhaps they really don't. In this instance dozens of men and boys who were aboard the dingy as it deflated leaped into the sea, according to Doctors Without Borders. The Geo Barents, the MSF ship, arrived on scene in international waters where they rescued 83 men and unaccompanied minors, 70 of whom were plucked to safety from the sea.

The people with Medicines sans Frontieres noted two speedboats, both of which claimed to belong to the Libyan Coast Guard, nearby. Some of the rescued men later informed MSF personnel that shots had been fired from the speedboats, although no one had been shot or injured. One of the speedboats had taken 24 women and four children aboard, informing those with the Geo Barents their intention to hand them over following the rescue of the men.

That speedboat, however sped away, according to MSF spokesman Maurizio Debbane. It had not been established who the armed men actually were, and what happened to the abducted women and children has not been established. An appeal went out from MSF to local authorities and organizations to help in the urgency to reunite the families, in the knowledge that Libya is not a safe environment for them, noting that the episode they had witnessed placed people "in danger, the lives of many people, and separated entire families".

According to Ms.Tunno, the rescued men and boys were "very tired, desperate and under shock". Many of them had experienced abuse and inhumane treatment while in Libya.

Photo: MSF