afrodenzi
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- Nov 1, 2010
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An overcrowded ship carrying up to 600 people trying to flee Libya sank just outside the port of Tripoli, the UN refugee agency has said, citing witness accounts.
Aid officials were still trying to confirm the fate of those people after the vessel broke apart Friday in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, UNHCR spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said.
Witnesses who left the Libyan capital on another boat shortly afterward reported seeing remnants of the sunken ship and the bodies of some passengers floating in the sea, she told The Associated Press.
Other witnesses saw passengers swimming to shore but it was unclear how many survived, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Its staff on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa interviewed a Somali woman who said she lost her four-month-old baby in the sinking. The woman swam to shore and managed to board another boat heading to Italy, the IOM said in a statement early today
A Libyan government spokesman in Tripoli had no comment when asked for information about the sunken refugee ship.
more info..
Ship 'with 600 people aboard' sinks as refugees flee from Libya - Middle East, World - The Independent
Aid officials were still trying to confirm the fate of those people after the vessel broke apart Friday in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, UNHCR spokeswoman Laura Boldrini said.
Witnesses who left the Libyan capital on another boat shortly afterward reported seeing remnants of the sunken ship and the bodies of some passengers floating in the sea, she told The Associated Press.
Other witnesses saw passengers swimming to shore but it was unclear how many survived, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Its staff on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa interviewed a Somali woman who said she lost her four-month-old baby in the sinking. The woman swam to shore and managed to board another boat heading to Italy, the IOM said in a statement early today
A Libyan government spokesman in Tripoli had no comment when asked for information about the sunken refugee ship.
more info.. Ship 'with 600 people aboard' sinks as refugees flee from Libya - Middle East, World - The Independent