Six Syrian migrants, including two children, died of hunger and thirst while trying to cross the Mediterranean in a decrepit boat to Italy.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the victims included a child in their first year of life and another child in their second year of life, as well as a 12-year-old boy, and three adults, including a grandmother and mother, who were accompanied by her children, who survived.
The commission indicated that there were more than thirty people on the boat and that most of the 26 survivors were being treated in Pozzallo, Sicily and were in “very poor health” and the country from which they had departed was undetermined.
There are 250 people in Maltese waters on a ship that left Lebanon about a week ago and is suffering from fuel shortages, according to the Alert Phone Association, a non-governmental organization that runs a helpline for migrants.
“Food and water ran out two days ago. The caller said his three-month-old baby had just died of thirst,” the organization tweeted.
In recent days, ships of humanitarian organizations have rescued hundreds of migrants in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The NGO Marine Watch has reported that there are 428 people aboard its ship, Marine Watch 3, waiting to arrive at the port.
The organization said that “the ship has rescued hundreds of people in recent days who would have been forcibly deported to Libya or drowned.”
Source: AFP