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cali

(114,904 posts)
Wed Jun 1, 2016, 07:40 AM Jun 2016

Mediterranean claims over 1,000 migrants in week as Libya traffickers try riskier ploys

The treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya to Italy has claimed the lives of over 1,030 migrants in the last week, mostly as barely seaworthy smuggling boats foundered and sank despite calm seas and sunny skies, a migration agency said Tuesday, citing new accounts from survivors.

The staggering death toll foreshadows more disasters ahead in the next few months as the region gears up for its traditional summer-fall spike in human trafficking as the weather improves and the seas grow warmer. Aid officials said it also suggests that Libyan smuggling gangs are using even riskier tactics than before to profit from the torrent of those desperate to reach the safety or economic promise of Europe.

Making matters worse, the jaw-dropping tally is only from capsizings or shipwrecks that are known to authorities, who readily admit they simply do not know how many people are being cheated by smugglers, jammed into obviously unsuitable vessels and swallowed up by the vast waters of the southern Mediterranean.

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/01/world/social-issues-world/mediterranean-claims-1000-migrants-week-libya-traffickers-try-riskier-ploys/#.V07JUGApBpV

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