Wider access to safe and legal routes

With great sadness and frustration, I learned of the recent tragedies in the Mediterranean. Another two shipwrecks have caused the loss of several lives, leaving behind pain and unanswered questions. This umpteenth disaster underlines the urgency to strengthen the search and rescue operations at sea and to create safe and regular routes for migrants and refugees.

In the first shipwreck, there were 10 victims, who died by suffocation on the lower deck of the boat. Fifty-one survivors were rescued near Lampedusa by the ship Nadir of the NGO Resqship.

Their countries of origin are Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In the second incident, after first receiving assistance from a fishing boat and then transferred to a merchant ship, the Italian Coast Guard rescued 11 survivors in the Ionian Sea and took them to Calabria to Roccella Jonica.

Another 64 people are reported missing at sea. Survivors and missing persons are from Iran, Syria and Iraq, including two accompanied children and two women.

If confirmed, this data brings the number of dead and missing in the central Mediterranean to over 800 since the beginning of the year, an average of almost five dead and missing a day. These latest incidents further generate a sense of deep frustration at the repeated and ignored appeals to upgrade the resources for search and rescue operations at sea in support of the Italian Coast Guard.

Every shipwreck represents a collective failure and a tangible sign of the inability of states to protect the most vulnerable people.

Three days before World Refugee Day, which marks the tragedy of 120 million people forced to flee wars, violence and persecution, these new incidents are unacceptable. In addition to the urgent need for European support for search and rescue operations, it is essential to promote wider access to safe and legal routes in the European Union for migrants and refugees so that they are not forced to risk their lives at sea.

Regina Egle Liotta Catrambone founder and director of  Mediterranean Aid Education Centre – Rome