ROME: Saving migrants from one of the shipwrecks that have left dozens dead or missing off Italy’s shores involved walking through bodies to find barely alive survivors, the NGO captain involved in one of the rescues said on Tuesday.
One boat with 51 survivors and 10 bodies was intercepted about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the island of Lampedusa, while another was spotted about 200 kilometers east of the southern Italian region of Calabria.
Eleven survivors from the second shipwreck and the body of a woman were taken ashore on Monday, and aid groups said 64 people, including 26 children, were unaccounted for. The Italian coast guard recovered three more bodies at sea on Tuesday.
Captain Ingo Werth of German aid group RESQSHIP, which operates the “Nadir” boat, led the first rescue in the early hours of Monday, picking up the 51 survivors from a “totally overcrowded wooden boat,” he told Reuters.
Before leaving, his team inspected the lower deck and found what seemed to be about a dozen bodies. A medical officer then said, “There’s a guy who’s breathing, he makes some noise, I hear some noise.”
Wearing gas masks, crew members went below to pick up the man and take him to safety. Another survivor was found in a second inspection, but getting him out was more complicated for the captain and a nurse who went with him.
“The (migrants’) boat was almost capsizing and so it was a potential grave (for rescuers),” said Werth.
The captain and the nurse left the hold with the bodies to return above deck, and managed to save the man below by pulling him through a hole made above his head using an axe and a hammer.
“There was that much life left in both of them,” Werth said about the survivors, using a hand gesture to signify they were close to death. He said the body temperature on one was below 32 degrees.
The pair has been airlifted to a hospital in Palermo and are recovering, he added.
The two shipwrecks have confirmed the central Mediterranean’s reputation as one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes. According to UN data, more than 23,500 migrants have died or gone missing in its waters since 2014.
According to RESQSHIP, the migrants picked up south of Lampedusa had set off from the Libyan port of Zuwarah and spent two days at sea. They told rescuers half of the passengers were from Bangladesh, with others from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt.
The migrants from the other shipwreck off Calabria set sail from Turkiye, spent eight days at sea, and came from Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to statements from UN agencies and the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity.
Survivors are “very confused” and don’t know “who among their relatives is alive or dead at sea. Entire families have been destroyed. Some have lost a wife, a child, a husband, a friend or a grandchild,” MSF staffer Cecilia Momi said.
So close to death: NGO captain recounts sea rescue involving Pakistani, other migrants
https://arab.news/c4957
So close to death: NGO captain recounts sea rescue involving Pakistani, other migrants
- One boat with 51 survivors, 10 bodies was intercepted about 90km south of the island of Lampedusa, Italy
- Another was spotted about 200 kilometers east of the southern Italian region of Calabria, rescuers said
Afghan interior minister welcomes Pakistani scholars for ‘positive’ remarks about Kabul
- Pakistani religious scholars on Dec. 23 called for easing tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, resumption of trade
- Sirajuddin Haqqani says Afghanistan is committed to regional peace, Afghans have “no intentions to threaten anyone”
PESHAWAR: Afghanistan’s Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani recently thanked Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and religious scholars from the country for expressing positive statements for Kabul despite tensions between the two countries.
A meeting of religious scholars in Pakistan on Dec. 23, attended by Jamiat Ulama-e-Pakistan political party head Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, called for easing tensions between the two states. The scholars also called for allowing resumption of trade and movement of people between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani news media outlets reported on Saturday that Dar, who is also Pakistan’s foreign minister, praised Haqqani’s earlier statement in which the Afghan minister stressed resolving tensions between Islamabad and Kabul through dialogue.
In a video statement on Sunday, Haqqani said Afghanistan is committed to peace and stability in the country and the region, adding that Afghans have “no intentions to threaten anyone.” He appreciated Rehman and religious scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani for speaking in a “positive” manner about Afghanistan in the Dec. 23 meeting.
“We are thankful and grateful for their approach and views,” Haqqani said.
“Similarly, we really appreciate the positive remarks by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who spoke in a positive way about Afghanistan.”
The Afghan minister’s statement comes in the backdrop of increased tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan amid a surge in militant attacks in the latter’s territory.
Pakistan blames Afghanistan’s government for facilitating attacks by the Pakistani Taliban or TTP group. Islamabad accuses Kabul of allowing TTP militants to take shelter in sanctuaries in Afghanistan from where they carry out attacks targeting Pakistan.
Kabul denies the charges and says it cannot be held responsible for security lapses and challenges in Pakistan.
The two countries engaged in fierce border clashes in October that led to the killings of dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides. Pakistan and Afghanistan subsequently agreed to a temporary ceasefire and have held three rounds of peace talks that remained inconclusive.
Tensions persist as Pakistan has vowed to go after militants even in Afghanistan that threaten the lives of its citizens. Afghan officials have warned Pakistan of retaliation if it attacks Afghanistan.
