Over 200 Migrants Drown In Mediterranean Sea

More than 200 transients are dreaded dead in a pontoon sinking off the shoreline of Libya, a Spanish guide association says. Proactiva Open Arms said it had recuperated five bodies coasting almost two upset water crafts, which can each hold more than 100 individuals.

The gathering's Laura Lanuza said the five they pulled from the Mediterranean were young fellows who seemed to have suffocated. A representative for Italy's drift monitor, which co-ordinates salvages, affirmed the five passings.

Ms Lanuza said no less than 240 transients may have passed on as the water crafts were frequently over-burden by dealers. “It is a harsh reality check of the suffering here that is invisible in Europe.”

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says more than 20,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year – and some 559 people are estimated to have died or gone missing en route. This compares with fewer than 19,000 arrivals in Italy and about 350 deaths in the first three months of 2016.

“We have yet to complete March, and we are already racing at a pace of arrivals that has exceeded anything we’ve seen before in the Mediterranean. This is typical of spring, getting very busy, but it’s not typical to have the numbers be so high this early and the corresponding deaths that go with it.” IOM spokesman Joel Millman said earlier this week.