Between 30-181 people die of suffocation, drowning and/or stabbing south of Lampedusa

20.07.2014 / 20:05 / South of Lampedusa

15.07.2014: 30-181 deaths. Several major news-outlets first report of the death of 30 migrants on a fishing boat carrying more than 600 people, south of Lampedusa in waters between Libya and Malta. The boat was initially assisted by the Danish tanker Torm Lotte and then by Italian and Maltese coast guard and navy vessels. The apparent cause of death was the inhalation of engine fumes. One person died on the way to hospital. Survivors were taken to Italy and two of them were brought to a hospital in Palermo. So far the Italian navy has not released information on the nationalities of the dead and the survivors.
However, between the 22nd and 25th of July the IOM, UNHCR and other news outlets report that more than 750 people had been on that boat. Survivors estimate that between 110-151 people had been stabbed and/or thrown overboard during the journey, with many also dying during the rescue operations. The Italian police has arrested five men accused of murder.

http://www.unhcr.org/53d0cbb26.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28082969
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/thirty-dead-bodies-found-migrant-boat-italy
http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2014/07/22/news/i_naufraghi_superstiti_barcone_strapieno_ne_sono_annegati_180-92107078/
http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/news-and-views/press-briefing-notes/pbn-2014b/pbn-listing/migrants-tell-of-mass-murder-on.html
http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/grausiges-blutbad-an-bord-augenzeugen-181-fluechtlinge-sterben-vor-lampedusa_id_4007600.html

Last update: 15:51 Feb 10, 2015

Credibility:

Between 30-181 people die of suffocation, drowning and/or stabbing south of Lampedusa

View Video

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans