
Another migrant boat is suspected to have sunk in the waters of the central Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya.
Preliminary information indicates at least 116 victims. This was reported by the German NGO Sea Watch, citing reports from Alarm Phone, an international network of activists and volunteers that runs an emergency hotline for migrants in distress while crossing the Mediterranean.
The news was also published by "La Repubblica", while there is no official confirmation yet. The organization was informed on December 19 that a ship had left the Libyan port of Zuwara, with 117 people on board.
“We repeatedly tried to contact the ship via satellite phone, but without success,” Alarm Phone reports. “On the evening of December 21, we received information that Tunisian fishermen had found a lone survivor in a wooden boat. The man reportedly stated that he had set off from Zuwara two days earlier and that he was the only survivor.”
On December 21 and 22, "the so-called Libyan and Tunisian coast guards repeatedly told us that they had not allowed anyone to disembark during those days."
Furthermore, neither the aerial searches conducted on 20 and 21 December by the Frontex Osprey 4 aircraft nor the one conducted on 22 December by Sea-Watch's Seabird 3 found any trace of the ship.
“We continue to seek further information and hope that it is not true that there is only one survivor,” Alarm Phone concludes. “If the borders had been open, these people would probably never have been forced to cross the Mediterranean,” comments Sea Watch. “We are looking for answers. All we want for Christmas is open borders!”