Anguish
etched on her face and held safe by the bare-chested man who has dragged
her from the sea, she seems unable to comprehend what has happened to
her.
Around
her are scenes of chaos as dozens of men battle to drag other survivors
from the treacherous waves. But not all are so lucky. A short distance
away, a tiny corpse is carried to land, his woolly hat dripping salt
water.
These
are the harrowing scenes on the shores of Europe today as up to 1,000
migrants are feared dead after three separate disasters.
On
the Greek island of Rhodes, the unknown child is one of three to have
died when the boat carrying him ran aground. The woman is one of
hundreds of survivors now seeking refuge after narrowly avoiding
drowning.
Elsewhere
more than 900 mainly African migrants are believed to have perished
when a 75 foot fishing boat capsized off Libya in one of the worst
maritime tragedies since the Second World War.
Survivors
claimed up to 300 people including women and children 'drowned like
rats in cages' after being locked in the hold by callous traffickers. In
a frantic fight for life, they clung to their dead bodies to stay
afloat.
Another
two boats are thought to be in danger off the coast of Libya with
Maltese and Italian coastguards tending to them. Twenty are already
feared dead aboard one of the vessels, both of which are carrying more
than 100 people.
Three people died after a boat
carrying dozens of migrants ran aground on the Greek holiday island of
Rhodes. Beach-goers were among the first to come to survivors' rescue as
emergency services off the coast of Libya continued to survey the
horror of an earlier disaster
Horrendous sight: A man carries the
body of a dead child onto the Greek island of Rhodes after a wooden
sailing boat carrying dozens of people ran aground, killing at least
three people in one of a number of tragedies involving migrant vessels
over the last two days
Harrowing: Video footage shows a
large, wooden double-masted boat with people packed on board, just
metres away from the Greek island of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean
Sea. Around 1,000 people are thought to have died in several migrant
boat disasters in just 24 hours
In Libya, Italian
coastguards continue to survey the horror of a capsized boat carrying
an estimated 950 migrants. Around 300 people were locked in its hull
when it capsized, said witnesses, in one what has been described as the
worst maritime disaster for decades
On dry land: A woman appears to
collapse with exhaustion in her rescuers arms after being plucked from
the Mediterranean Sea in Rhodes
Rescue: The vessel capsized after
hitting rocks off the coast, causing dozens of desperate migrants to
fall in to the choppy waters with Greeks and holidaymakers watching on
in horror
Three people were killed in the accident in Greece this morning. Their deaths are among hundreds feared over the past 24 hours
'I held him in my arms as if he were
my own son': Rescue worker Francesco Gallo (not pictured), an officer on
board the Guardia Finanza police boat Monte Sperone, told of the
harrowing moment he picked up the lifeless body of a small boy aged
around ten
Grim task: Italian coastguard
personnel in protective clothing carry the body of a dead immigrant off
their ship Bruno Gregoretti in Valletta's Grand Harbour in Malta after a
smuggler vessel capsized in the Mediterranean
Taken for burial: More than 900 people
– including 200 women and up to 50 children – are feared dead after the
boat overturned in the one of the worst maritime disasters since the
end of World War Two
Tragedy: The coast guard ship
Gregoretti dropped off the bodies early Monday and was continuing on to
Sicily with 28 survivors of this weekend's shipwreck near the Libyan
coast that may have claimed as many as 900 lives
The lucky few: Some of the 24
survivors of the disaster sit on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard
vessel Bruno Gregoretti at Boiler Wharf, Senglea in Malta, before being
taken to Sicily
Traumatised: Migrant survivors lie on
the deck of Italian coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti in Senglea, in
Valletta's Grand Harbour in Malta
Rescuers
recovered 24 bodies from the sea following the disaster, which took
place off Libyan waters, south of the southern Italian island of
Lampedusa, shortly after midnight on Sunday.
Francesco
Gallo, an officer on board the Guardia Finanza police boat Monte
Sperone, told of the harrowing moment he picked up the lifeless body of a
small boy.
He
told Corriere della Sera: 'We approached in the rubber dinghy and in my
heart I prayed that he was alive, but the hope died soon after.
'He was a little black boy. He would have been about ten. I held him in my arms as if he were my own son.
'We are afraid to think about what we will find underneath us.'
The ship's captain Paolo Zottola said his team would not stop until they have found everyone - dead or alive.
He
said: 'It's a hard job, our job, but we have to do it. Unfortunately we
can't work miracles. But you never get used to the pain.'
He added: 'With the water temperature so cold at midnight they wouldn't have survived more than half and hour'.
Meanwhile,
about 100 migrants rescued by a different merchant vessel in a separate
operation were being brought to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo late
Sunday night, authorities said.
The tragedy also comes just days after another shipwreck in the area claimed 400 lives.
It is thought both boats capsized after those on board rushed to one side to signal to passing merchant ships.
Mr Muscat said the incident was further evidence that Italy and Malta need more support in dealing with the migrant crisis.
'A
time will come when Europe will be judged harshly for its inaction as
it was judged when it had turned a blind eye to genocide', he said.
'They
are literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in
the water. This could possibly be the biggest tragedy to have ever taken
place in the Mediterranean.'
Foreign ministers have added the issue of migrants to the agenda of a European Union meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
'Europe can do more and Europe must do more,' said Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.
'It
is a shame and a confession of failure how many countries run away from
responsibility and how little money we provide for rescue missions.'
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the latest incident shows the UK needs to change its stance.
'The
British Government must immediately reverse its opposition to EU search
and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, as the EU needs to restart
the rescue as soon as possible', she said.
'It
is immoral to turn our backs and leave people to drown in order to
deter other desperate travellers - and of course it hasn't worked.
'Since the operations were cancelled even more people have tried to cross the Mediterranean, and thousands have died.
'The EU should do the basic, humanitarian thing and rescue those in peril on the sea.'
A child is carried to safety by a
member of the coastguard at the Sicilian harbour of Pozzallo early this
morning after being rescued
Two Syrian babies are carried to
safety after being rescued from a boat on the coast of Italy. All 100 of
the people on board survived
In safe hands: In a separate rescue
operation, around 100 migrants including women and babies were brought
to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo late on Sunday night, authorities said
Politicians across the continent are
now urging countries to work together to stop future tragedies taking
place, as more and more people risk their lives in the hands of people
traffickers to come to Europe
More migrants arrive at Pozzallo
harbour in Sicily. One of the survivors of the disaster said there were
950 people on board the smuggler boat when it sank, including 300 people
who were locked in the ship's hold
Last
October, Britain and other EU nations backed Italy's decision to scale
back the migrant patrol operation, replacing it with a much more limited
EU 'border operation' plan,
This operates within just 30 miles of the coast and does not conduct search and rescue missions,
Italy claimed the presence of rescue ships was encouraging migrants to attempt the crossing.
Yet their new policy does not seem to be deterring migrants.
Last week alone 10,000 were rescued by the Italian navy - an unprecedented number.
Charities Amnesty International and Save The Children joined the calls for search and rescue operations to be reinstated.
And
Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said he had asked for an urgent
meeting of EU leaders, adding: 'Italy asks not to be left on its own'.
'The
trafficking of migrants amounted to 'a new slave trade'. We must all
fight against human traffickers that are the slavers of the 21st
century, he added.
'We are not talking about statistics but our brothers and sisters and of human lives.'
A picture made available by German
shipping company Opielok Offshore Carriers on Monday, April 20, shows a
boat with migrants close to the cargo ship OOC Jaguar in the
Mediterranean sea before they were rescued on April 12. The company has
rescued more than 1,500 people in the Mediterranean sea since December
Safe: Migrants huddle on board a ship
run by the German shipping company Opielok Offshore Carriers after being
rescue from the Mediterranean on April 12
Dozens of migrants are hauled on board
the OOC Cougar cargo ship in the Mediterranean sea after being rescued
in a separate operation on February 5
Growing
numbers of Africans have been setting off on ill-fated voyages to
Europe from Libya and the country's coastlines has become a prime target
for people-smugglers.
The warm weather has also tempted tens of thousands of migrants in the past week alone to attempt the crossing.
The
boat in the latest tragedy set off from Libya on Saturday and sent out a
distress signal shortly before midnight 120 miles south of the Italian
island of Lampedusa.
The
boat initially set off from Egypt and then stopped off on the Libyan
coast near the city Zuwarah to pick up more passengers, it reported.
The
Coast Guard said there was no immediate way of finding out exactly how
many passengers were on the boat or how many might still be rescued, but
authorities fear there could have been as many as 950 migrants on board
according to Italian news agency ANSA.
General
Antonino Iraso of the Italian Guardia Finanza police, which is involved
in the rescue attempt, said that if the numbers were confirmed it would
be the worst shipping disaster since the Second World War.
Prime Minister of Italy (right) Matteo
Renzi has asked for an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders after the
incident. 'Italy asks not to be left on its own' he said as he described
the trafficking of people as a 'slave trade'
Pope Francis led
tributes to the victims of the disaster. He expressed his 'deepest
pain' at the tragedy and urged the international community to take
action to stop migrants dying as they try to reach Europe
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