Another tragic shipwreck in the Mediterranean: 116 people have lost their lives off the coast of Libya. The humanitarian organization Sea Watch reported the news.
There is reportedly only one survivor, rescued by a Tunisian fishing boat.
The vessel had set sail from the coast of Libya on the evening of December 18 , but an SOS was sent out shortly thereafter. Since then, there has been no trace of it, with Seabird, the aircraft that patrols the area usually crossed by migrants, having failed to locate the vessel, which immediately led to suspicions of a shipwreck.
Immediately after the SOS, Alarm Phone stated that it had repeatedly attempted to contact the vessel via satellite phone, without success. "We alerted the coast guard and the relevant NGOs, even though we didn't have a GPS position. We continued to try to contact the vessel via satellite phone throughout the day, but again without success," the message read.
Two days later, on the evening of December 21st, the NGO continues, "we received information that some Tunisian fishermen had found a single survivor on a wooden boat. The man reportedly said he had left Zuwara two days earlier and was the only survivor."
According to his testimony, just a few hours after departure the weather conditions worsened dramatically, with winds reaching 40 km/h.
(Unioneonline)
