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REFUGEE CRISIS

IMMIGRATION

Eight dead, nearly 20 missing in migrant boat tragedy

UPDATED: At least eight African migrants, and possibly as many as 27, died in a new boat tragedy off the coast of Libya, a search and rescue organization said on Monday.

Published: 18 April 2016 11:06 CEST
Updated: 18 April 2016 13:50 CEST
Eight dead, nearly 20 missing in migrant boat tragedy
French charity SOS Mediterranée said its boat, the Aquarius, had rescued 108 migrants from a stricken dinghy in high seas on Sunday. Photo: Patrick Bar/Sos Mediterranée

French charity SOS Mediterranee said its boat, the Aquarius, had rescued 108 migrants from a stricken dinghy in high seas on Sunday. The migrants were from 11 different African countries.

One of the survivors told the Aquarius crew there had been at least 135 people on board when the overcrowded vessel left the Libyan port of Sabratha.
   
Eight of the passengers were confirmed dead: six corpses were recovered in the dinghy and two were carried away by the waves after a mass panic resulted in dozens falling into the water as the rescue boat approached.

The dinghy, at that point, was already half-deflated and taking on water with the motor having given out some nine hours after it embarked from Libya on Sunday.

The survivors were nationals of 11 different African countries.
 
According to the International Organization for Migration, a total of 352 migrants perished in the waters between Libya and Italy between the start of this year and April 15th.

Separately, there have been reports that over 400 migrants, the majority from Somalia, are feared to have drowned while trying to make their way to Italy from Egypt after the four vessels they were travelling in capsized.

The news was broken on Sunday night by BBC Arabic.

Italy's coastguard said it had no information about the tragedy.

If confirmed to be true, it would be the biggest migrant tragedy since more than 700 people died a year ago today in a shipwreck off Sicily.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, a total of 352 migrants perished in the waters between Libya and Italy between the start of this year and April 15th.

More than 24,000 migrants have made it to Italy, almost all of them having been picked up at sea by boats participating in a multinational search and rescue operation coordinated by the Italian coastguard.

SOS Mediterranee operates the Aquarius in partnership with medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF). Sunday's operation came a day after the boat rescued 116 migrants from another stricken dinghy, three of whom had bullet wounds.

CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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