Ten victims were discovered dead on the lower deck in a boat made of wood that had been overcrowded, while trying to cross into the Mediterranean.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a medical organization, found the boat, which was 30 nautical miles from Libya’s coast.
MSF rescue team rescued 99 of those onboard the boat. They are now aboard the Geo Barents rescue ship.
The rescue crew was told by survivors that the victims spent more than 13 hours in the boat’s lower deck, inhaling highly toxic fuel smells and spending over 13 hours in total.
Ten migrants who were trying to get from Lybia to Europe died on the lower decks of a wooden boat that was overcrowded.
On Tuesday the victims of the tragic accident were crammed into the wooden boat’s lower deck, where they had been given intoxicating fuel smells.
Caroline Willemen (project coordinator for the Geo Barents) described the Mediterranean as one of the most dangerous migration routes after the tragic events.
‘We are once more witnessing Europe’s unwillingness to provide the much needed dedicated and proactive search and rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean’ she added.
MSF says Geo Barents was alerted to a boat that was in distress and was taking on water. But he couldn’t get there on time so the tragedy could be avoided.
MSF deputy spoke out about Fulvia Conte’s victims and said that it took them almost 2 hours to rescue them.
Abdoulaye was among the survivors who escaped the boat. He told rescuers that he had barely time to comprehend what just occurred.
“Let me see their bodies. These are my brothers, we come from the same place, we went through Libya together,” Abdoulaye asked the volunteers, “I need to tell their families they are dead. Please let me see them.”
MSF saved 99 victims from the boat. They are currently onboard the Geo Barents vessel, waiting to be safely disembarked
After the tragedy, survivors have begun to show signs of trauma and acute stress. Some of these survivors had to identify their loved ones’ bodies.
Geo Barnet conducted three rescue operations on international waters close to Malta and Libya within less than 24 hour, salvaging a total number of 186 victims
Within 24 hours, the MSF team had saved 3 boats that were in international waters close to Malta and Libya. The rescue brought together 186 people on board the Geo Barents.
Willemen warns: “With 186 survivors, including relatives of some of those killed, and people who have travelled hours on the lower deck of a boat amid dead bodies, Geo Barents will be urgently searching for a place of safety to disembark the group of highly stressed, likely traumatised individuals.”
Guardian reported that Alarm Phone, the European emergency line, accused European authorities in ignoring the distress signal. ‘We had called the hotline several hours earlier, and no one responded. We’re fed up of hearing about these tragic deaths.
Among the survivors there are 152 men, 34 women and 61 minors, including a 10-month-old child, coming from a range of countries including Guinea, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Somalia and Syria.
The traumatized survivors of the tragedy are still on board the rescue boat, waiting for a safe place to embark.
Some had to identify deceased family members or friends.