Pope Francis has again appealed to the international community to act “promptly” and “decisively” to avoid further tragedies involving would-be migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe.
His comments follow news last week that up to 150 people are feared to have drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya.
Speaking at the Vatican on Sunday, the Pope invited people to pray for the victims and their families.
“I learned with pain the news of the dramatic shipwreck that occurred in recent days in the waters of the Mediterranean,” he was reported as saying by the Catholic News Service. The Pope added that he renewed his “heartfelt appeal for the international community to act promptly and decisively, to avoid the repetition of similar tragedies and to guarantee the safety and dignity of all”.
Senior UN officials have described the tragedy as the worst in the Mediterranean so far this year. The UN International Organization for Migration has said that 145 survivors, main Eritreans and Sudanese, have been returned to Libya and that they reported some 250 people were on the boat.
In a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said the tragedy underscored “once again the terrible urgency of our repeated pleas to European and other governments for restoring sea rescues and help with alleviating the suffering of the thousands of refugees and migrants caught in the conflict in Libya”.
He said the incident – should the toll of 150 be confirmed – would be the worst since May, 2017. Prior to the wreck, 669 deaths had been reported on the Mediterranean so far this year.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said last week that restoring “rescue at sea, an end to refugee and migrant detention in Libya, increasing safe pathways out of Libya must happen now before it is too late for many more desperate people”.
