Monday, February 09, 2015

The Death Sentence

27 migrants have frozen to death (hypothermia). Waves were up to eight metres high and temperatures were just above freezing. Pietro Bartolo, chief health care official on the island, said the migrants had to spend around 18 hours on the open decks of two patrol boats as they made their way to dry land. Mr Bartolo added: "They were all soaking wet in high seas and strong winds." 


A search and rescue mission called Mare Nostrum, replaced by a smaller scale the Triton operation,  has been disbanded and  since then no navy ships capable of hosting large numbers of migrants below deck have patrolled the waters near the Libyan coast.

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