Crew members of the 'Geo Barents' take part in a search and rescue operation. AFP
Crew members of the 'Geo Barents' take part in a search and rescue operation. AFP
Crew members of the 'Geo Barents' take part in a search and rescue operation. AFP
Crew members of the 'Geo Barents' take part in a search and rescue operation. AFP

Ten migrants die on sinking boat adrift for 13 hours off Libya coast


Simon Rushton
  • English
  • Arabic

Ten bodies were found on board an overcrowded, unseaworthy boat as humanitarian aid workers rescued 99 people from the vessel off the coast of Libya.

The 10 appeared to have suffocated on fuel fumes after being adrift at sea for 13 hours, Doctors without Borders (MSF) said.

“At the bottom of the overcrowded wooden boat, 10 people were found dead,” the medical charity tweeted.

MSF said they were “10 avoidable deaths”, adding: “How can we accept this in 2021?”

The charity's Geo Barents rescue ship pulled 99 people from the sinking boat on Tuesday before finding the bodies on the lower deck.

MSF later said it took two hours to transfer the bodies to the Geo Barents, where they will be kept pending a dignified burial.

Tens of thousands of people seek to enter Europe each year on the central Mediterranean, leaving from Libya and Tunisia and heading most often for Italy.

Some of the migrants rescued about 50 kilometres from the Libyan shore. AFP
Some of the migrants rescued about 50 kilometres from the Libyan shore. AFP

But the route is deadly – 1,236 people have died on the central Mediterranean so far this year, compared with 858 in the same period for 2020, said Flavio Di Giacomo of the UN's International Organisation for Migration.

The boat was the third attended in 24 hours by Geo Barents in waters around Libya and Malta. The charity vessel has 186 people on board, including 61 minors.

They are from countries including Guinea, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Somalia and Syria, and set off from Libya, the charity said.

“On a day like this, when we bring 10 corpses on board our ship, we are once again witnessing Europe's unwillingness to guarantee a desperately needed system of search and rescue in the central Mediterranean,” said Caroline Willemen, MSF mission head on board the Geo Barents.

Ms Willemen said the survivors, some of whom had travelled for hours with the bodies of their dead friends and relatives, urgently needed a safe haven to disembark.

The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

The biog

Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns

Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Food of choice: Sushi  

Favourite colour: Orange

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Italy
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Spain
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

What are the main cyber security threats?

Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
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if you go

The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow. 
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes). 

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Updated: November 18, 2021, 1:01 AM`